United States Tenth Circuit

A sentence for unauthorized re-entry into the U.S. as a previously deported alien is affirmed where defendant did not rebut the presumption of reasonableness attached to his properly calculated guidelines sentence, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in: 1) declining to vary downward from the sentencing guidelines based on defendant's health-based motivation for re-entry, specifically that he needed medications for his HIV condition; 2) treating the offense as a serious one; and 3) in imposing the within-guideline term of imprisonment it did.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/10/2009
• Published 02/11/2009

Judges

• McKAY, Circuit Judge., Before HENRY, McKAY, and McCONNELL, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Submitted on the briefs:  Scott M. Davidson, Albuquerque, NM, for Defendant-Appellant., Gregory J. Fouratt, United States Attorney, and Terri J. Abernathy, Assistant United States Attorney, Las Cruces, NM, for Plaintiff-Appellee.