NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Plaintiff-Appellee, 

 v. 

ALVARO ANTONIO DOMINGUEZ, 

Defendant-Appellant.

No. 18-50360 

D.C. No. 

3:17-cr-03172-AJB-1 

MEMORANDUM*

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of California

Anthony J. Battaglia, District Judge, Presiding

Submitted May 7, 2020**

Pasadena, California

Before: MURGUIA and CHRISTEN, Circuit Judges, and HELLERSTEIN,***

District Judge.

Alvaro Dominguez appeals from the district court’s judgment and challenges 

his sentence for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, in 

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent 

except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision 

without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).

*** The Honorable Alvin K. Hellerstein, United States District Judge for 

the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation.

FILED

JUN 1 2020

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
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violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841. The district court sentenced Dominguez to a fortysix-month term of incarceration, to be followed by a three-year period of 

supervised release that is subject to various conditions—including a special 

condition which forbids him from entering or residing in Mexico without 

permission of the district court or his probation officer. Dominguez challenges his

custodial sentence as substantively unreasonable; the above-mentioned special 

condition as procedurally and substantively unreasonable; and several of the

standard conditions of supervision as either unconstitutionally vague or wrongfully 

imposed without notice based on amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines and 

this circuit’s case law. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. 

§ 3742. We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand. 

We review the substantive reasonableness of a sentence for an abuse of 

discretion. United States v. Autery, 555 F.3d 864, 871 (9th Cir. 2009). De novo

review applies to claims that conditions of supervised release violate the 

Constitution, United States v. Evans, 883 F.3d 1154, 1159–60 (9th Cir. 2018), and 

when a defendant is denied notice of the imposition of a non-standard condition of 

supervised release, United States v. Napier, 463 F.3d 1040, 1042 (9th Cir. 2006). 

Finally, we review conditions of supervised release for plain error if, as was the 

case here with respect to the special condition challenged on appeal, the defendant 

fails to object at the time they are imposed. United States v. Jeremiah, 493 F.3d 
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1042, 1046 (9th Cir. 2007).

1. The custodial sentence imposed by the district court is substantively 

reasonable. It is evident from the record that the district court carefully considered 

the totality of the circumstances in determining the forty-six-month belowGuidelines sentence. See Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007); see also 

United States v. Whitehead, 532 F.3d 991, 992–93 (9th Cir. 2008) (per curiam)

(affirming below-Guidelines sentence based on district court’s reasoning). In 

doing so, the district court considered the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, in addition 

to the Sentencing Guidelines, and explained its deviation from the Guidelines

range. Id. The district court, probation department, government, and defense 

agreed that the applicable Guidelines range was seventy to eighty-seven

months. The government recommended a fifty-eight-month custodial 

sentence. Probation recommended sixty months. Dominguez requested eighteen

months. Citing Dominguez’s age and lack of education, the district court departed 

downward four levels from the otherwise applicable offense level and arrived at a 

Guidelines range of forty-six to fifty-seven months. The record does not support 

Dominguez’s contentions that the sentence was illogical, arbitrary, or failed to 

account for Dominguez’s age and maturity level.

2. The district court plainly erred—procedurally and substantively—

when it imposed the special condition of supervised release prohibiting Dominguez 
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from residing in Mexico without permission of the district court or his probation 

officer. Because the special condition implicates Dominguez’s right to familial 

association, the district court was required to make special findings on the record,

supported by evidence in the record, that the special condition is necessary for 

deterrence, protection of the public, or rehabilitation, and that it involves no greater 

deprivation of liberty than reasonably necessary. United States v. Wolf Child, 699 

F.3d 1082, 1087 (9th Cir. 2012). Because the district court made no such findings, 

and it failed to conduct an individualized examination of Dominguez’s relationship 

with the affected family members, it committed procedural error. Id. at 1087–

88. Our precedent equates this procedural error with reversible error under plain 

error review. Id. at 1095. That Dominguez may enter or reside in Mexico if he 

obtains permission from the district court or his probation officer is irrelevant. Id.

at 1096.

The district court’s imposition of the special condition was also 

substantively unreasonable to the extent it prohibits Dominguez from residing with 

his family. Nothing in the record would support a finding that this restriction on 

his right to familial association involves no greater deprivation of liberty than is 

reasonably necessary to accomplish the goals of deterrence, protection of the 

public, or rehabilitation. Id. at 1096–97. The record indicates that Dominguez’s 

family is a supportive and positive influence; that they do not have immigration 
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privileges to enter the United States; that Dominguez was financially dependent on 

his parents at the time of his arrest; that he does not speak English; that he has 

never lived in the United States; and that he has a low risk of reoffending.

We therefore vacate the special condition and remand to the district court for 

resentencing. Conditions imposed on Dominguez on remand should be narrowly 

drawn, and reasonably related to the statutory goals of supervised release and 

involve no greater deprivation of Dominguez’s liberty than reasonably necessary to 

accomplish these goals. Id. at 1103; U.S.S.G. § 5D1.3(b). We again note from the 

record that Dominguez, although a U.S. citizen, does not have residence in the 

United States. Before his detention, he lived with his family in Mexico. His 

family is not authorized to enter the United States. The standard conditions of 

supervised release, implicit in every criminal judgment—but subject to the 

discretion of the district judge if the judge believes them to be inapplicable, 

Napier, 463 F.3d at 1043—require defendants to have an “authorized residence” 

within the district, and to obtain permission for travel outside the district, U.S.S.G. 

§ 5D1.3(c)(1), (3). The district judge should exercise his discretion as to whether

these conditions are appropriate under the circumstances and determine if 

Dominguez—a young man who will be approximately twenty-one years old upon 

release—is to live with his family in Mexico, or whether an authorized residence 

within the district may be required, along with travel rights to Mexico.
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3. The district court also imposed the following formerly standard 

conditions of supervised release on Dominguez:

No. 4 – The defendant shall support his or her dependents and meet other 

family responsibilities.

No. 5 – The defendant shall work regularly at a lawful occupation, unless 

excused by the probation officer for schooling, training, or other acceptable 

reasons.

No. 7 – The defendant shall refrain from excessive use of alcohol and shall 

not purchase, possess, use, distribute, or administer any controlled substance 

or any paraphernalia related to any controlled substances, except as 

prescribed by a physician.

No. 8 – The defendant shall not frequent places where controlled substances 

are illegally sold, used, distributed, or administered.

No. 13 – As directed by the probation officer, the defendant shall notify third 

parties of risks that may be occasioned by the defendant’s criminal record or 

personal history or characteristics and shall permit the probation officer to 

make such notifications and to confirm the defendant’s compliance with 

such notification requirement. 

We recently held that conditions identical to Conditions Four, Five, and Thirteen

are unconstitutionally vague. Evans, 883 F.3d at 1162–64. Furthermore, 

Condition Four does not apply to Dominguez, as he does not have any 

dependents. Additionally, a November 2016 Guidelines amendment—which predates Dominguez’s sentencing—rephrased and incorporated Condition Seven into 

a special condition relating to substance abuse and eliminated Condition Eight

altogether. The government concedes these conditions were unlawfully imposed. 

Accordingly, we vacate these conditions. 
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In summary, we affirm the custodial sentence, vacate the aforementioned 

conditions of supervised release, and remand for the district court to impose 

conditions of supervised release that are consistent with this order.

AFFIRMED in part; VACATED in part; and REMANDED.