OPINION
Albеrto Ayala-Nicanor (Ayala) appeals his 70-month below-Guidelines sentence of incarceration for illegal reentry after a prior deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) and (b).
The district court increased Ayala’s base offense level by sixteen points because it concluded that Ayala’s conviction for willful infliction of corporal injury on a spouse, California Penal Code § 273.5, is a categorical crime of violеnce under U.S. Sen-fencing Guidelines (U.S.S.G.) § 2L1.2. In so doing, the court relied on our 2010 decision in
United States v. Laurico-Yeno,
Ayala also asserts procedural error, contending that the district court “never responded” to Ayala’s policy challenge to the illegal reentry Guideline requiring a sixteen-point sentencing enhancement for certain prior convictions. Because we conclude that Laurico-Yeno remains good law and that the district court provided a reasoned explanation for increasing Ayala’s offense level by sixteen, we affirm.
I.
We have jurisdiction over Ayala’s timely appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review the district court’s interpretation of the Sentencing Guidelines, including whether a crime qualifies as a “crime of violence” under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2, de novo.
United States v. Bolanos-Hernandez,
II.
On July 27, 2009, Ayala pleaded guilty to being found in the United States after a prior deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) and (b).
In the presentence report (PSR), the probation officer recommended the sixteen-level increase to Ayala’s offense level based on his prior convictions for categorical crimes of violence. The PSR indicated that in June 1998, before his deportation, Ayala had been convicted of two felonies arising out of a domestic assault upon his wife: (1) corрoral injury to a spouse, in violation of California Penal Code § 273.5(a); and (2) assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, in violation of California Penal Code § 245(a)(1). Ayala was sentenced to one year in state prison on his § 273.5 conviction, and three years in state prison on the § 245(a)(1) conviction, with the sentences running concurrently.
Ayala objected to the PSR on the ground that California Penal Code § 273.5, corporal injury to a spоuse, is not a categorical crime of violence because it is broad enough to include a non-violent “least touching.” 1 Ayala also argued that the illegal-reentry sentencing enhancement is without empirical or moral justification, results in unwarranted sentencing disparities, and imposes a disproportionate penalty. Ayala sought a variance of eight levels under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) to account for these policy conсerns, requesting that the court impose a 48-month sentence of incarceration, instead of a sentence within the advisory Guidelines range of 84-105 months. The Government’s Sentencing Memorandum urged the district court to apply the sixteen-level enhancement, and recommended a sentence of 100 months of incarceration.
After the parties filed their sentencing memoranda, but before Ayala’s sentencing hearing, we definitively rejeсted the argument that a violation of § 273.5 is not a categorical crime of violence warranting a sixteen-level increase under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2.
Laurico-Yeno,
III.
In evaluating whether a prior conviction is for a categorical crime of violence warranting the illegal reentry sentencing enhancement, we apply the “categorical approach” set forth in
Taylor v. United, States,
The illegal reentry sentencing Guideline provision advises a sentencing enhancement of sixteen levels if a defendant has previously been deported after a felony conviction for a “crime of violence.” U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A)(ii). The applicable Guidelines commentary defines “crime of violence” to include any offense “under federal, state, or local law that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.” U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2, cmt. n. l(B)(iii).
California Penal Code § 273.5(a) punishes any person who “willfully inflicts upon a person who is his or her spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, former cohabitant, or the mother or father of his or her child, corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition.” The statute defines a “traumatic condition” as “a condition of the body, such as a wound or external or internal injury, whether of a minor or serious nature, caused by a physical force.” § 273.5(c). The relevant question is whether a conviction under § 273.5 requires the use, the attempted use, or the threatened use of physical force against the person of another. In
Laurico-Yeno,
In
Laurico-Yeno,
we held that § 273.5 is a categorical crime of violence under the illegal reentry Guidelines because § 273.5 “requires the intentional use of physical force against the person of another.”
We rejected Laurico’s argument that a non-violent “least touching” could result in a conviction under § 273.5 because Laurico failed to “identify a single § 273.5 case resulting from a non-violent use of force.”
Id.
at 822. Laurico merely presented the panel with a “ ‘theoretical possibility! ] that [California] would apply its statute to conduct’ outside the term ‘crime of violence,’ ”
id.
(quoting
Duenas-Alvarez,
Ayala contends that we are not bound by
Laurico-Yeno
because the subsequent Supreme Court decision in
Johnson
articulated a new definition of “crime of violence” that is irreconcilable with the holding in
Laurico-Yeno.
In
Johnson,
the Supreme Court considered whether a Florida battery conviction qualified as a “violent felony” within the meaning of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). The ACCA defines a violent felony to include any crime punishable for more than one year that “has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.” § 924(e)(2)(B)(i). The Court concluded that the term “physical force” referred to violent force capable of causing physical pain or injury.
Johnson,
Nothing in
Johnson
undermines
Lauri-co-Yeno.
We have already considered and rejected this argument in
Banuelos-Ayon v. Holder,
Ayala cites the same three unpublished California Courts of Appeal decisions that we analyzed and rejected in
Banuelos-Ayon
in support of his argument that § 273.5 covers a minor “least touching.” As we concluded in
Banuelos-Ayon,
these
decisions
— People
v. Stearns,
No. B183521,
In
Banuelos-Ayon,
we further noted that even if we had been persuaded by defendant’s arguments that § 273.5 did not qualify as a categorical “crime of violence,” we were bound by Laurico-Yeno’s resolution of this question, and that
Johnson
in no way undermined
Laurico-Yeno.
Contrary to Ayala’s position, the
Johnson
Court did not alter the degree of force required under 18 U.S.C. § 16’s definition of a “crime of violence.” Instead, the
Johnson
opinion recognizes that the federal “crime of violence” definition is “very similar to [the ACCA’s violent felony definition], in that it includes any felony offense which ‘has as an element the use ... of physical force against the person or property of another.’ ”
The
Laurico-Yeno
holding is entirely consistent with
Johnson’s
definition which requires the use of
“violent
force — that is, force capable of causing physical pain or
*751
injury to another person.”
3
Ayala also argues that we impropеrly “refused to credit the interpretation of § 273.5’s elements by California’s own courts” in
Laurico-Yeno,
and that this conflicts with
Johnson’s
holding that the Court was “bound by the Florida Supreme Court’s interpretation of state law, including its determination of the elements” of criminal statutes.
Johnson,
Similarly, in
Laurico-Yeno,
we turned to the California courts’ construction of the required element of “traumatic” force to determine that the element satisfied the federal generic definition of a crime of violence. Laurico pointed to California cases interpreting § 273.5 to include a simple battery that results in injury tо the victim,
see Gutierrez,
Ayala’s argument rests on the very decisions we rejected in Laurico-Yeno and Banuelos-Ayon as unsupportivе of the proposition he asserts. Ayala, like Laurico and Banuelos before him, fails to identify any California cases demonstrating that a defendant has been convicted under this statute for the non-violent use of force. Johnson is readily distinguishable because the Florida Supreme Court’s interpretation of the statute made clear that a defendant could be convicted under the state statute without using the level of force required by thе federal generic definition. In sum, nothing in Johnson undermines the validity of Laurico-Yeno, a conclusion we already reached in Banuelos-Ayon, and that we reaffirm today.
IV.
Ayala argues that the district court committed procedural error by failing to respond to his non-frivolous policy challenge to the sixteen-level sentencing enhancement on the grounds that it arbitrarily and disproportionately increases the length of sentences under 8 U.S.C. § 1326. Under
Rita v. United States,
Although “[i]t would be procedural error for а district court ... to fail adequately to explain the sentence selected,”
United States v. Carty,
The court properly calculated the applicable Guidelines range, evaluated the § 3553(a) sentencing factors, and stated that he had considered Ayala’s policy challenge:
I have certainly сonsidered all of the argument of counsel and certainly [defense counsel’s] comments and argument that she has filed in her sentencing papers with respect to the disproportionate impact that a plus-16 has on [Ayala’s] *753 advisory sentencing guidelines. Although certainly I would note that the guidelines are advisory only, and the advisory guidelines range is only one factor that the court considers.
The court rejected Ayala’s request for a variance from the Guideline range of 84 to 105 months down to 48 months based on Ayala’s extensive criminal history, noting that his criminal record “is almost unbroken from the time he was a young man.” The court also considered Ayala’s serious criminal history category of VI, which had not taken into account eleven contacts with law enforcement that did not result in charges or convictions and other crimes which did not score. In addition, the court cоnsidered the number of times Ayala had been deported, after which Ayala returned to the United States, only to commit further crimes. The court concluded pursuant to § 3553 factors (a)(2)(B) and (a)(2)(C) that Ayala’s requested variance to 48 months would not “protect the public from future crimes of the defendant, nor do I think it would afford adequate deterrence to future criminal conduct.”
In the end, the court reasonably rejected both the Governmеnt’s requested 100 months of incarceration and Ayala’s requested 48-month sentence. After analyzing all of the § 3553 factors, the court settled on a sentence of incarceration of 70 months to protect the public from future crimes by Ayala, to significantly deter Ayala from returning to this country, and to reflect the seriousness of the offense. Finally, that the court imposed a below Guidelines sentence demonstrates that it was well aware of its ability to do so under Supreme Court precedent.
CONCLUSION
Nothing in Johnson undermines the continuing validity of Laurico-Yeno and its holding that a conviction under California Penal Code § 273.5 is a categorical crime of violence for the purposes of U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A)(ii). Ayala’s conviction under § 273.5 qualifies as a “crime of violence” warranting a sixteen-level sentencing enhancement under the Sentencing Guidelines. Nor did the district court commit procedural error in imposing a 70-month sentence of incarceration.
AFFIRMED.
Notes
. Ayala's sentencing memorandum did not address his § 245(a)(1) conviction, nor did the district court rely on this conviction for the sixteen-level enhancement. Because a conviction under § 245(a) qualifies as a categorical crime of violence,
United States v. Grajeda,
. The petitioner was charged with removability pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E). This section renders an alien removable if he has been convicted of a crime оf domestic violence, which is defined as including any "crime of violence (as defined in section 16 of Title 18) against a person committed ... by an individual with whom the person shares a child in common.” 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i). *756 felony and has served a term of imprisonment of at least 5 years.”
. We note that Johnson interprets the definition of a "violent felony" under the ACCA. It appears that the Court’s interpretation of the requisite degree of force was significantly influenced by the statutory cоntext:
We think it clear that in the context of a statutory definition of ‘violent felony,’ the phrase ‘physical force’ means violent force — that is, force capable of causing physical pain or injury to another person.... When the adjective 'violent' is attached to the noun ‘felony,’ its connotation of strong physical force is even clearer.
