United States v. Bercian-Flores

Defendant pled guilty to reentering the United States as an illegal alien and the district court imposed a twelve-level sentencing enhancement based on his prior felonious conviction for unlawfully transporting aliens. On appeal, defendant argued that the Court's ruling in United States v. Simmons precludes the enhancement because the Guidelines for his prior conviction under the then-mandatory Sentencing Guidelines was zero to six months' imprisonment. The court affirmed the sentence, concluding that the district court did not err in imposing the enhancement because the judge who sentenced defendant for the prior conviction had discretion to sentence him for up to five years. View "United States v. Bercian-Flores" on Justia Law