United States Fifth Circuit

Defendant's sentence for violating 8 U.S.C. section 1326 by being knowingly and unlawfully present in the U.S. after having been deported for an aggravated felony is vacated where the applicability of a sixteen-level enhancement under section 2L1.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines was ambiguous where the defendant was deported before being sentenced to more than thirteen months of imprisonment on a conviction that predated his deportation and where the defendant was convicted of illegal reentry while incarcerated, and thus, the rule of lenity applied.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/27/2010
• Published 07/27/2010

Judges

• William L. Garwood

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel