Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca5-03-50807/USCOURTS-ca5-03-50807-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Edgar Alonso Gutierrez-Ortiz
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

* 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that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent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

F I L E D

February 6, 2004

Charles R. Fulbruge III

Clerk

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

 

No. 03-50807

Summary Calendar

 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

EDGAR ALONSO GUTIERREZ-ORTIZ,

Defendant-Appellant.

--------------------

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Western District of Texas

USDC No. EP-03-CR-214-ALL-PRM 

--------------------

Before JONES, BENAVIDES, and CLEMENT, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:*

Edgar Alonso Gutierrez-Ortiz (Gutierrez) appeals the 41-

month sentence imposed following his guilty-plea conviction of

attempted illegal re-entry of a deported alien. Gutierrez

contends that the district court erred in increasing his offense

level under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A). He asserts that his prior

conviction for violating 21 U.S.C. § 843(b) is not a “drug

trafficking offense.”

 Case: 03-50807 Document: 0051164575 Page: 1 Date Filed: 02/06/2004
No. 03-50807

-2-

An element of a 21 U.S.C. § 843(b) offense is the

defendant’s commission of an independent drug crime or

facilitation of such a crime. United States v. Mankins, 135 F.3d

946, 949 (5th Cir. 1998). Gutierrez’s prior conviction was for

use of a telephone to distribute heroin. Accordingly, we affirm

the district court’s imposition of the 16-level increase in

Gutierrez’s offense level based on his previously having

committed a drug trafficking offense. Id.; see United States v.

Orihuela, 320 F.3d 1302 (11th Cir. 2003). 

AFFIRMED.

 

 Case: 03-50807 Document: 0051164575 Page: 2 Date Filed: 02/06/2004