Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-04-03730/USCOURTS-ca8-04-03730-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Constantino Garcia-Juarez
Appellee
United States of America
Appellant

Document Text:

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 04-3730

___________

United States of America, * 

* 

Appellant, * 

* Appeal from the United States

v. * District Court for the 

* Southern District of Iowa.

Constantino Garcia-Juarez, * 

* 

Appellee. *

___________

Submitted: June 22, 2005

Filed: August 29, 2005

___________

Before MURPHY, BYE, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.

___________

SMITH, Circuit Judge.

Constantino Garcia-Juarez pleaded guilty to being found in the United States

after a prior deportation in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a). At sentencing, over the

government's objection, the district court determined that Garcia-Juarez's prior

conviction for Lascivious Acts With a Child in violation of Iowa Code § 709.8 was

an aggravated felony, but not a crime of violence under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(B).

We conclude that Garcia-Juarez's conviction constitutes a crime of violence under §

2L1.2(b)(1)(B) and reverse.

Appellate Case: 04-3730 Page: 1 Date Filed: 08/29/2005 Entry ID: 1945395
-2-

I. Background 

In 1994, Garcia-Juarez, then in his mid-thirties, enticed a fourteen-year-old girl

to come inside his Des Moines, Iowa, apartment. Once inside, Garcia-Juarez took the

young girl into his bedroom. While lying on top of the girl, Garcia-Juarez rubbed his

genitals against the girl's fully clothed genital area until he ejaculated. Garcia-Juarez

was arrested and charged with Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree. Garcia-Juarez

eventually pleaded guilty to Lascivious Acts With a Child and his five-year sentence

was suspended. On November 22, 2000, the government deported Garcia-Juarez to

Mexico. 

On June 19, 2004, the Des Moines Police Department arrested Garcia-Juarez

for vehicle and traffic violations. After learning of Garcia-Juarez's prior removal from

the United States, the Des Moines Police Department notified the Bureau of

Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The government then charged Garcia-Juarez

with illegally being in the United States following deportation in violation of 8 U.S.C.

§ 1326(a).

After pleading guilty to § 1326(a), but prior to sentencing, the district court

ordered that a presentence investigation report (PSR) be prepared. The PSR indicated

that Garcia-Juarez had been convicted of Lascivious Acts With a Child in violation

of Iowa Code § 709.8 prior to his deportation. In the PSR, the probation officer

recommended that Garcia-Juarez's base offense level be increased by 16 levels under

U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii) (conviction for a crime of violence). Garcia-Juarez

objected to characterizing his conviction for Lascivious Acts With a Child as a "crime

of violence" and argued that he should only receive an 8-level increase under

U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(B) (conviction for an aggravated felony).

The district court conducted a sentencing hearing and agreed with GarciaJuarez. Accordingly, the district court applied an 8-level enhancement in lieu of the

Appellate Case: 04-3730 Page: 2 Date Filed: 08/29/2005 Entry ID: 1945395
-3-

16-level enhancement urged by the government. With only an 8-level enhancement,

the Guidelines sentencing range dropped from 41–51 months to 15–21 months. The

district court sentenced Garcia-Juarez to 15 months' imprisonment, the bottom of the

Guidelines range, and the government appealed. 

II. Discussion 

The sole issue on appeal is whether an Iowa conviction for Lascivious Acts

With a Child can be properly characterized as an "aggravated felony" but not a "crime

of violence" under U.S.S.G. § 2L.1.2(b). Although the Guidelines have recently

become advisory, see United States v. Booker, 125 S. Ct. 738, 756 (2005), a sentence

imposed as the result of an incorrect application of the Guidelines requires a remand

for resentencing unless the error was harmless. United States v. Mashek, 406 F.3d

1012, 1017 (8th Cir. 2005) (citing 18 U.S.C. § 3742(f)(1)). One example of a

harmless error is when the resulting sentence lies in an overlap between the correct

and incorrect Guidelines ranges. Id. We review the interpretation and application of

the Guidelines on appeal de novo. Id. 

The government argues that Garcia-Juarez's prior conviction for Lascivious

Acts With a Child qualifies as a "crime of violence" under § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii). The

thrust of the government's argument is that the crime of Lascivious Acts With a Child

constitutes "sexual abuse of a minor," which is an enumerated crime of violence

under the commentary to § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii). Garcia-Juarez contends that because

the Iowa legislature has seen fit to differentiate between "sexual abuse" and

"lascivious acts with a child" by making them two separate crimes, the United States

Sentencing Guidelines, which has some overlap, must follow suit by creating a

narrow definition and a broad definition of the term "sexual abuse of a minor." 

Under § 2L1.2(a), Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States, a

defendant's base offense level starts at 8. However, subpart (b) provides for an

increase in offense level in certain circumstances, and states in pertinent part:

Appellate Case: 04-3730 Page: 3 Date Filed: 08/29/2005 Entry ID: 1945395
-4-

(1) Apply the Greatest:

If the defendant previously was deported, or unlawfully

remained in the United States, after – 

(A) a conviction for a felony that is . . . (ii) a crime of

violence; . . . increase by 16 levels 

* * * *

(C) a conviction for an aggravated felony, increase by 8

levels; . . .

U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b). The Application Notes to subpart (A)(ii) explains that a "crime

of violence" includes "sexual abuse of a minor." The Application Notes to subpart (C)

cross-references 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43), which defines, in part, an "aggravated

felony" as a " murder, rape, or sexual abuse of a minor." 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(A).

A careful reading of the Guidelines reveals that the phrase "sexual abuse of a

minor" is a key that fits the locks of both a "crime of violence" and an "aggravated

felony." Specifically, both subpart (A) and subpart (C) contain a specific reference

to "sexual abuse of a minor." Garcia-Juarez argues that the overlap indicates Congress

intended to create a narrow definition and a broad definition of the term "sexual abuse

of a minor" as used in § 2L1.2(a). However, Garcia-Juarez points to no reference in

the Congressional Record or otherwise to support his contention. To the contrary,

Garcia-Juarez's contention belies the text of the Guideline which requires a

sentencing court to "Apply the Greatest" offense enhancement. See U.S.S.G. §

2L1.2(a)(1). This statement directs application of the greater enhancement when there

is overlap.

Garcia-Juarez also argues that the Guidelines should follow the case-law

interpreting actual state statutes. In Iowa, the crime of "sexual abuse" is separate and

distinct from "lascivious acts with a child." State v. Graves, 491 N.W.2d 780, 782

Appellate Case: 04-3730 Page: 4 Date Filed: 08/29/2005 Entry ID: 1945395
1

Amendment 658, effective on November 1, 2003, was intended in part to

clarify the definition of "crime of violence," as used in § 2L1.2, and to "make[ ] clear

that the enumerated offenses are always classified as 'crimes of violence,' regardless

of whether the prior offense expressly has as an element the use, attempted use, or

threatened use of physical force against the person of another." United States

Sentencing Guidelines Manual, app. C (2003).

-5-

(Iowa 1992) ("The plain language of these sections indicates a legislative intent to

provide for three individual crimes of sexual abuse and a separate crime of lascivious

acts with a child."). Thus, in Iowa, the crime of "lascivious acts with a child" is not

a "forcible felony" as defined by Iowa state law. However, in Graves, the Supreme

Court of Iowa compared the elements of the crime of lascivious acts with a child to

the specific elements of sexual abuse. The Guidelines do not attempt to enumerate

each state crime by name; rather the Guidelines prescribe a general approach in

defining a crime of violence. United States v. Nation, 243 F.3d 467, 473 (8th Cir.

2001) (citation omitted). Also, the Iowa definition of "forcible felony" does not track

either the definition of "aggravated felony" or "crime of violence" as used by the

Guidelines. 

We have yet to determine whether Lascivious Acts With a Child in violation

of Iowa Code § 709.8 constitutes "sexual abuse of a minor" as contemplated by

U.S.S.G. § 2L1.3(b)(1)(A)(ii). In United States v. Rodriguez, 979 F.2d 138 (8th Cir.

1992), we held that the commission of lascivious acts with a child in violation of

Iowa Code § 709.8 qualified as an "aggravated felony" as set forth in U.S.S.G. §

2L1.2(b)(2), app. n.7. At the time Rodriguez was decided, an "aggravated felony," as

defined by § 2L.1.2, carried a 16-level enhancement. Since Rodriguez was decided,

the Guidelines have been modified to differentiate between general aggravated

felonies, and those "crimes of violence" specifically enumerated. See United States

v. Gomez-Hernandez, 300 F.3d 974, 977 n.2 (8th Cir. 2002).1

 This modification

created a two-tiered enhancement schedule – now an "aggravated felony" carries an

Appellate Case: 04-3730 Page: 5 Date Filed: 08/29/2005 Entry ID: 1945395
-6-

8-level enhancement and a "crime of violence" carries a 16-level enhancement.

Accordingly, Rodriguez provides little guidance. 

We have explained that "[u]nless the sentencing guidelines provide a special

definition of the particular term whose meaning is in issue, we give the language of

the guidelines its ordinary meaning." United States v. Anton, 380 F.3d 333, 335–36

(8th Cir. 2004) (citations omitted). Other circuits have concluded that similar state

law crimes constitute "sexual abuse of a minor" under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii).

For example, in United States v. Orduno-Mireles, 405 F.3d 960, 961–62 (11th Cir.

2005), the Eleventh Circuit held that a felony conviction for unlawful sexual activity

with certain minors qualified as sexual abuse of a minor warranting application of the

16-level enhancement. The Fifth Circuit held that the offense of taking indecent

liberties with a child, under North Carolina law, constituted "sexual abuse of a

minor." United States v. Izaguirre-Flores, 405 F.3d 270 (5th Cir. 2005). Likewise, in

the Ninth Circuit, a California crime involving the sexual touching of a child under

14 years of age constituted the "sexual abuse of a minor." United States v.

Baron-Medina, 187 F.3d 1144, 1147 (9th Cir. 1999).

Nonetheless, Garcia-Juarez contends that because his Iowa conviction does not

meet the criminal elements of sexual abuse of a minor under 18 U.S.C. § 2243(a),

which ostensibly requires the intentional touching, not through the clothing, of a

minor under the age of 16, it cannot be "sexual abuse of a minor" as contemplated by

the Guidelines. However, the Eleventh Circuit has explained that "the word 'sexual'

in the phrase 'sexual abuse of a minor,' [as used in the Guidelines], indicates that the

perpetrator's intent in committing the abuse is to seek libidinal gratification." United

States v. Padilla-Reyes, 247 F.3d 1158, 1163 (11th Cir. 2001). 

We find the reasoning employed by a consensus of our sister circuits

persuasive. We hold that achieving sexual gratification by unlawfully touching a

Appellate Case: 04-3730 Page: 6 Date Filed: 08/29/2005 Entry ID: 1945395
2

Iowa Code § 709.8 makes it

"unlawful for any person eighteen years of age or older to perform any

of the following acts with a child with or without the child's consent

unless married to each other, for the purpose of arousing or satisfying

the sexual desires of either of them:

1. Fondle or touch the pubes or genitals of a child.

2. Permit or cause a child to fondle or touch the person's

genitals or pubes.

3. Solicit a child to engage in a sex act or solicit a person

to arrange a sex act with a child.

4. Inflict pain or discomfort upon a child or permit a child

to inflict pain or discomfort on the person.

Iowa Code § 709.8. 

-7-

child as prohibited by Iowa Code § 709.8 constitutes sexual abuse of a minor.2

Accordingly, the district court erred in declining to apply a 16-level enhancement to

Garcia-Juarez's Guidelines calculation. In addition, because application of the 16-

level enhancement would have significantly increased Garcia-Juarez's Guidelines

range, the error was not harmless. 

For the foregoing reasons, we reverse and remand for resentencing not

inconsistent with this opinion.

______________________________

Appellate Case: 04-3730 Page: 7 Date Filed: 08/29/2005 Entry ID: 1945395