Case ID: f-appx_281/html/0643-02.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Juan Jose RINCON-NIETO, Appellant.
    No. 08-1145.
    United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.
    Submitted: May 13, 2008.
    Filed: June 17, 2008.
    Andrew H. Kahl, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Des Moines, IA, U.S. Attorney’s Office, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
    James F. Whalen, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Southern District of Iowa, Des Moines, IA, for Defendant-Appellant.
    Juan Jose Rincon-Nieto, Des Moines, IA, pro se.
    Before RILEY, BOWMAN, and HANSEN, Circuit Judges.
   PER CURIAM.

Juan Jose Rincon-Nieto (Rincon-Nieto) pled guilty to a charge of illegal reentry by a previously deported alien, in violation of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1326(a) and (b)(2). The presentence report determined (1) Rincon-Nieto’s base offense level was 8, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(a); and (2) Rincon-Nieto was subject to a 16-level increase under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A)(ii) because he was deported after conviction for a felony crime of violence. After a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, Rincon-Nieto’s total offense level was 21, and with a criminal history category of IV, his resulting sentencing range was 57-71 months. The district court sentenced Rincon-Nieto to 57 months imprisonment. On appeal, Rincon-Nieto contends the district court erred in finding that a State of Iowa conviction for an aggravated misdemeanor crime of domestic assault, which was subject to an enhanced sentence punishable by up to two years imprisonment based on a prior domestic assault conviction, was a felony crime of violence under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A)(ii), cmt. n. 2 (defining a felony offense as “any federal, state, or local offense punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year”).

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in United States v. Rodriquez, 558 U.S. -, 128 S.Ct. 1783, 170 L.Ed.2d 719 (2008), supplies persuasive authority. In Rodriquez, the Court held a state enhancement based on a recidivist provision is applicable to a determination of a maximum term of imprisonment under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Id. at 1793. Following the Rodriquez reasoning, by analogy, the district court was correct in finding Rineon-Nieto’s 2003 Iowa conviction for a recidivist enhanced domestic assault qualified as a crime of violence under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2, thereby supporting the 16-level enhancement. Contrary to Rincon-Nieto’s argument, a defendant’s prior record of convictions is relevant to an evaluation of the seriousness of the subject state conviction. Id. at 1789. We affirm. 
      
      . The Honorable Robert W. Pratt, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.