United States v. Cortez-Gonzalez

The Fifth Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence imposed after he pleaded guilty to one count of transporting illegal aliens. The court held that the district court did not err by applying a four-level sentencing enhancement under USSG 2L1.1(b)(3)(B) when one of the enhancement's predicate offenses could not be counted for criminal history points under USSG 4A1.2(e). The court held that the plain text of the Sentencing Guideline does not limit the predicate offense for the enhancement in section 2L1.1(b)(3) to offenses that could count for criminal history points, and note two in the commentary to section 2L1.1 did not compel a different result. View "United States v. Cortez-Gonzalez" on Justia Law