United States Ninth Circuit

In this case, defendant pled guilty to unauthorized reentry into the United States after deportation and was sentenced to thirty-seven months in prison. In applying the federal sentencing guidelines, the district judge assessed the 16-level sentencing enhancement on grounds that defendant was previously convicted of criminal sexual contact under New Jersey law, an offense which the judge concluded was a "crime of violence" under U.S.S.G. section 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii). The judgment is affirmed, where: 1) for the purposes of implementing the sentencing guidelines in the immigration context, Chapter Four of the sentencing guidelines provides the proper definition of "conviction"; 2) under Chapter Four's definitions, defendant was "convicted of an offense" which gave rise to a "prior sentence"; 3) because the New Jersey statute is divisible and includes alternatives that do not involve the absence of consent, the district court properly applied the modified-categorical approach to determine that defendant was convicted of the statutory alternative involving lack of consent; and 4) the conduct for which defendant was convicted fit within the guideline definition of a forcible sex offense, and thus the definition of a crime of violence.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/02/2015
• Published 03/02/2015

Judges

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel