United States Ninth Circuit

Defendant's sentence following his guilty plea to an information alleging that he reentered the country without authorization after being removed in violation of 8 U.S.C. section 1326, is vacated and remanded, where: 1) in applying the twenty-year statutory maximum penalty under 8 U.S.C. section 1326(b) instead of the two-year statutory maximum penalty, the district court impermissibly relied on a fact, that the defendant's removal was subsequent to his aggravated felony conviction, that was neither admitted by the defendant nor found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, in violation of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000); and 2) the Apprendi error was not harmless.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/27/2014
• Published 05/27/2014

Judges

• BERZON

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel