Opinion ID: 65009
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reformation of Judgment

Text: Finally, Mondragon-Santiago argues that he was convicted and sentenced under the wrong statutory subsection because he does not have a prior conviction for an aggravated felony. At oral argument, the government conceded this point, and requested that we reform the judgment. Mondragon-Santiago asks for resentencing in the first instance, and for reformation in the alternative. Mondragon-Santiago was convicted under 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(2), which penalizes reentry by an alien deported after prior conviction for an aggravated felony with imprisonment of up to twenty years. Section 1326(b)(1) penalizes the same conduct for aliens deported after conviction for certain misdemeanors or for a felony (other than an aggravated felony), and limits imprisonment to a maximum term of ten years. The term aggravated felony is defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(F) to mean a crime of violence . . . for which the term of imprisonment [is] at least one year. [8] Any reference to a term of imprisonment or a sentence with respect to an offense is deemed to include the period of incarceration or confinement ordered by a court of law regardless of any suspension of the imposition or execution of that imprisonment or sentence in whole or in part. § 1101(a)(48)(B). Mondragon-Santiago argues that he should have been convicted and sentenced under § 1326(b)(1) because his prior conviction for aggravated assault is not an aggravated felony under § 1101(a)(43)(F). The state court ordered four years of deferred adjudication probation for his earlier crime. See Tex.Code Crim. Proc. art. 42.12, § 5(a) ([W]hen in the judge's opinion the best interest of society and the defendant will be served, the judge may, after receiving a plea of guilty or plea of nolo contendere, hearing the evidence, and finding that it substantiates the defendant's guilt, defer further proceedings without entering an adjudication of guilt, and place the defendant on community supervision.). Federal law counts Texas's deferred adjudication probation as a conviction. [9] See 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(48)(A); [10] see also United States v. Valdez-Valdez, 143 F.3d 196, 203 (5th Cir.1998) (holding that a Texas deferred adjudication may be counted as `conviction for a felony' under [U.S.S.G.] § 2L1.2(b)(1)). Mondragon-Santiago does not dispute that his conviction for aggravated assault counts as a felony under § 1326(b). But he argues that he was not sentenced to a term of imprisonment for at least one year, and thus he did not commit an aggravated felony under § 1101(a)(43)(F). Mondragon-Santiago concedes that this issue was not raised below. Thus, we review for plain error. Our precedent distinguishes between sentences of imprisonment that are imposed but then suspended, and sentences that are for probation in the first instance without any imprisonment contemplated. See United States v. Banda-Zamora, 178 F.3d 728, 730 (5th Cir.1999) (Thus, when a court does not order a period of incarceration and then suspend it, but instead imposes probation directly, the conviction is not an `aggravated felony.'). If the sentencing court orders imprisonment and then suspends it, the sentence counts under § 1101(a)(43)(F) for determining if the term of imprisonment is at least one year in duration. See, e.g., Vasquez-Balandran, 76 F.3d at 650-51. Conversely, if the sentencing court orders probation directly, then that conviction does not count as a term of imprisonment or as an aggravated felony. See, e.g., United States v. Herrera-Solorzano, 114 F.3d 48, 50 (5th Cir.1997). The issue here is which scheme deferred adjudication probation under Texas law more closely resembles. The question turns on the meaning of the phrase term of imprisonment. Under § 1101(a)(48)(B), the term refers to a period of incarceration or confinement ordered by a court of law. This definition requires the sentencing court in the first instance to order or impose imprisonment as part of the sentence, regardless of a later suspension. Deferred adjudication probation in Texas does not impose a sentence of imprisonment, and thus does not involve a term of imprisonment. From this analysis we conclude that Mondragon-Santiago's four years of deferred adjudication probation under Texas law is not a term of imprisonment under § 1101(a)(48)(B), and thus is not an aggravated felony under § 1101(a)(43)(F). Given that the judgment erroneously lists § 1326(b)(2) as the statute under which Mondragon-Santiago was convicted and sentenced, we must determine if the error merits vacation of his sentence under the plain error standard. We conclude that it does not. Even if we assume the error is plain, it did not affect Mondragon-Santiago's substantial rights. Again, he bears the burden to prove the error affected the outcome in the district court. Yet, the record does not indicate the district court's sentence was influenced by an incorrect understanding of the statutory maximum sentence. Cf. United States v. Watson, 476 F.3d 1020, 1023-24 (D.C.Cir.2007) (vacating sentence under plain error standard when district court recited incorrect statutory maximum and explicitly based its sentence on that mistaken understanding). In addition, the sentence imposed was both within a properly calculated Guidelines range and below the statutory maximum of § 1326(b)(1), points Mondragon-Santiago concedes. Cf. id. (noting that the district court did not calculate the Guidelines range at all). [11] Mondragon-Santiago has not shown how, on this record, the error affected the outcome in the district court. [12] Cf. Izaguirre-Losoya, 219 F.3d at 439, 441-42 (upholding the defendant's sentence, under the plain error standard, when the district court failed to explain why it chose to impose consecutive, rather than concurrent, sentences). Thus, we find no plain error requiring vacation of Mondragon-Santiago's sentence, but we reform the district court's judgment to reflect the correct statutory subsection.