Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca5-14-51287/USCOURTS-ca5-14-51287-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
United States of America
Appellee
Jesus Fernando Vazquez Rosales
Appellant

Document Text:

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

No. 14-51287

Summary Calendar

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee

v.

JESUS FERNANDO VAZQUEZ ROSALES, also known as Jesus Fernando 

Vazquez,

Defendant-Appellant

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Western District of Texas

USDC No. 3:14-CR-1636-1

Before JOLLY, BENAVIDES, and CLEMENT, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:*

Jesus Fernando Vazquez Rosales appeals the 57-month withinguidelines sentence imposed by the district court following his guilty plea 

conviction for illegal reentry into the United States after removal. He argues 

that the sentence was greater than necessary to achieve the goals of 18 U.S.C. 

§ 3553(a) and was therefore unreasonable. 

 

* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not 

be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH 

CIR. R. 47.5.4.

United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit

FILED

August 7, 2015

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

 Case: 14-51287 Document: 00513146235 Page: 1 Date Filed: 08/07/2015
No. 14-51287

2

Vasquez Rosales contends that U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2 lacks an empirical basis, 

improperly double counts his criminal history, and overstates the seriousness

of his offense, which is simply an international trespass. He further argues

that his motive for returning to the United States was to work to support his 

children. Because Vazquez Rosales objected to the substantive reasonableness 

of his sentence, he preserved this issue for appellate review. See United States 

v. Peltier, 505 F.3d 389, 391-92 (5th Cir. 2007).

This court has rejected the arguments that § 2L1.2 improperly double 

counts prior convictions and that its lack of an empirical basis necessarily 

renders a sentence unreasonable. United States v. Duarte, 569 F.3d 528, 529-

31 (5th Cir. 2009); United States v. Mondragon-Santiago, 564 F.3d 357, 366-67 

(5th Cir. 2009). This court has also rejected the argument that § 2L1.2 

overstates the seriousness of the offense because it is simply an international 

trespass. United States v. Juarez-Duarte, 513 F.3d 204, 212 (5th Cir. 2008). 

The district court sentenced Vazquez Rosales within the guidelines range after 

listening to his mitigating arguments. Vazquez Rosales’s reliance on 

mitigating facts, including his history of living in the United States and his 

motive of returning to work to support his children, fails to rebut the 

presumption of reasonableness attached to his within-guidelines sentence. See 

United States v. Gomez-Herrera, 523 F.3d 554, 565-66 (5th Cir. 2008). As 

Vasquez Rosales concedes, his contention that this presumption should not 

apply is foreclosed. See Mondragon-Santiago, 564 F.3d at 366-67. 

For these reasons, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED. 

 Case: 14-51287 Document: 00513146235 Page: 2 Date Filed: 08/07/2015