Opinion ID: 782254
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Government's Burden to Establish Bonilla's Conviction for an Aggravated Felony

Text: 9 Bonilla next argues that the district court erred in enhancing his offense level by sixteen levels when the only evidence presented was in the presentence report and the inaccurate J & C. In this regard, Bonilla contends that, in order to apply the sixteen-level enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A), the government was required to prove Bonilla's conviction for an aggravated felony by clear and convincing evidence. Alternatively, Bonilla posits that even if a preponderance standard applies, the government still failed to carry its burden. 10 [D]ue process is generally satisfied by using a preponderance of the evidence standard to prove sentencing factors that are set forth in the [United States Sentencing Guidelines]. United States v. Jordan, 256 F.3d 922, 927 (9th Cir.2001) (citation omitted). However, when a sentencing factor has an extremely disproportionate effect on the sentence, the government must prove the sentencing enhancement by clear and convincing evidence. Id. 11 In this case, the sixteen-level enhancement increased Bonilla's sentencing range from a six — to twelve-month range to a sixty-three to seventy-eight month range. We have applied the clear and convincing standard in other cases evidencing a similar impact. See id. at 929 (holding that failure to apply a clear and convincing evidence standard was plain error when the district court applied a nine-level increase that changed the sentencing range from 70-87 months to 151-188 months); see also United States v. Munoz, 233 F.3d 1117, 1127 (9th Cir.2000) (applying the clear and convincing standard where the sentencing factor increased defendants' individual sentencing ranges from 12-18 months to 41-51 months); United States v. Mezas de Jesus, 217 F.3d 638, 643 (9th Cir.2000) (applying the heightened standard where the sentencing range was increased from 21-27 months to 57-71 months). Given the substantially increased sentence, the district court should have required proof of a prior conviction by clear and convincing evidence. However, even under this more demanding standard, Bonilla's challenges fail because the record contains evidence sufficient for us to conclude that the district court's conclusion was correct. See United States v. Romero-Rendon, 220 F.3d 1159, 1163 (9th Cir.2000). 12 Bonilla correctly observes that a presentence report alone is not always sufficient evidence of a prior conviction. United States v. Corona-Sanchez, 291 F.3d 1201, 1212 (9th Cir.2002) (en banc). However, the government may satisfy its burden by producing a presentence report specifying the statute under which a defendant was previously convicted. See Romero-Rendon, 220 F.3d at 1164-65. In this case, the PSR listed the wrong statute of conviction. Although this is an understandable mistake — an apparent clerical error — listing the wrong statute is tantamount to listing no statute at all, rendering [t]he statement in the PSR [] insufficient to establish that the disputed conviction was a qualifying aggravated felony. See United States v. Jimenez, 258 F.3d 1120, 1126-27 (9th Cir.2001) (citation omitted). 13 However, the PSR did list the crime, and Bonilla admitted to having committed voluntary manslaughter in an application for benefits to the INS. This evidence indicates that [t]he most likely statute of conviction is California Penal Code [§ 192(a)]. See id. Whatever the standard of proof, we conclude that the district court did not err in finding that the government had met its burden of establishing the predicate offense. 14