Opinion ID: 167164
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: interpretation of guideline

Text: USSG § 2L1.2(b)(1)(B) states: “If the defendant previously was deported . . . after . . . a conviction for a felony drug trafficking offense for which the sentence imposed was 13 months or less, increase by 12 levels.” This provision, however, “does not apply to a conviction for an offense committed before the defendant was eighteen years of age unless such conviction is classified as an adult conviction under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the defendant was convicted.” Id. cmt. n.1(A)(iv). -2- On May 26, 1987, Mr. Armenta-Arredondo was sentenced in California for sale or transportation of marijuana. The PSR indicated that Mr. ArmentaArredondo “reports that he was tried as an adult as he claimed to be 21 years old at the time of his arrest.” R. Vol. IV. at 5. At sentencing, his counsel stated that he “sustained a conviction when he said he was 21 years old, but he was really 15.” R. Vol. II at 5. Although the district judge was “cynical,” id. at 8, he inspected a birth certificate showing that Mr. Armenta-Arredondo was 15 at the time of the conviction, found it to be self-authenticating under Fed. R. Evid. 902(4), and admitted it into evidence. The district judge then ruled that the record showed that Mr. Armenta-Arredondo was convicted and sentenced as an adult in California, and that he could not collaterally attack that conviction in