Opinion ID: 3052373
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: On October 17, 2000, pursuant to his guilty pleas of September 11, 2000, Jimenez was convicted of two counts of Unlawful Use of a Communication Facility, 21 U.S.C. § 843(b) (“§ 843(b)”), in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. He was sentenced to two forty-eight month terms to run consecutively. Thereafter, Jimenez was deported on November 8, 2005. On about May 4, 2006, Jimenez was found residing in the United States unlawfully. He eventually pleaded guilty without a plea agreement to one count of Unlawful Reentry of a Deported Alien, 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (“§ 1326”), on May 15, 2007. On July 27, 2007, the district court sentenced Jimenez to forty-six months of imprisonment. In calculating the total offense level, the court applied — over Jimenez’s objection — a sixteen-level enhancement because of Jimenez’s two prior § 843(b) felony convictions, which the district judge found to be “drug trafficking offenses” for which the Guidelines provide such an enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(i). Jimenez now appeals his sentence arguing that his § 843(b) convictions are not “drug trafficking convictions” under the Guidelines but rather mere “aggravated felonies,” for which the Guidelines provide a lesser enhancement pursuant to UNITED STATES v. JIMENEZ 9093 U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(C). In support, Jimenez bases his argument on statutory construction and attempts to distinguish prior case law.