Opinion ID: 2974794
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: On March 29, 2005, Miami Township police officers responded to a domestic altercation involving a Hispanic male and his girlfriend. After being identified as the male involved in the domestic altercation, Defendant admitted he did not possess any form of identification. When questioned by the officers, Defendant gave the police a false name and admitted he was an illegal alien. After he was fingerprinted by the police, his identity was revealed to be Noe Jesus Castro-Martinez. Defendant was arrested and charged with falsification and unlawful restraint, in violation of Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2905.03 (West 2004). The Miami Township police officers contacted the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”). When ICE officials interviewed Defendant, he confirmed he was a citizen of Mexico and had previously been deported from the United States in 1999 and 2001. A review of his criminal record revealed that while in the United States, Defendant had been arrested four times for assault: in July 1991, June 1994, October 1995, and September 1996. He was convicted for the 1991 and 1996 arrests. On April 13, 2005, Defendant was taken into federal custody. On May 18, 2005, Defendant was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of reentry of removed alien, pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1326. On July 25, 2005, Defendant entered a guilty plea to the Indictment. At Defendant’s November 23, 2005, sentencing hearing, the district court calculated Defendant’s Guidelines range pursuant to U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2L1.2 (2004): Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States. The court assigned Defendant a net offense level of twenty-one, a criminal history score of six, and a criminal history category of III. This resulted in an advisory Guidelines range of 46 to 57 months. The district court departed downward six months below the Guidelines range to 40 months. This was in recognition that Defendant’s illegal status rendered him ineligible for good time credit or halfway house designation at the end of his sentence. 2 On appeal, Defendant contends his sentence is unreasonable because the actual severity of his previous conviction supports a sentence below the advisory Guidelines range. Additionally, Defendant argues the district court unreasonably refused to sentence him below the Guidelines range based on the differences between his sentence and sentences of other illegal aliens in fast-track jurisdictions and the differences between his sentence and sentences of other illegal aliens within the Southern District of Ohio.