Opinion ID: 70270
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Sentencing Enhancement, or New Crime

Text: 10 The parties have cited cases from five other circuits which have dealt with the question whether subsections (b)(1) and (b)(2) state separate crimes or are merely sentence enhancing provisions for the specific offense of being found in the United States after deportation. Only one court has treated the subsections as defining separate crimes. See United States v. Campos-Martinez, 976 F.2d 589 (9th Cir.1992) (sections 1326(a) and 1326(b) state separate crimes); United States v. Gonzalez-Medina, 976 F.2d 570 (9th Cir.1992) (same) (citing dicta in United States v. Arias-Granados, 941 F.2d 996 (9th Cir.1991) (plea bargain)). 11 All the other circuits have rejected the Ninth Circuit's line of cases. See United States v. Crawford, 18 F.3d 1173 (4th Cir.1994) (section 1326(b) is a sentence enhancement provision); United States v. Forbes, 16 F.3d 1294 (1st Cir.1994) (same); United States v. Vasquez-Olvera, 999 F.2d 943 (5th Cir.1993) (King J., dissenting), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 889, 127 L.Ed.2d 82 (1994) (same); see also United States v. Cole, 32 F.3d 16 (2d Cir.1994) (a sentence-enhancement provision rather than a separate offense). See also United States v. Vieira-Candelario, 811 F.Supp. 762 (D.R.I.1993) aff'd by 6 F.3d 12 (1st Cir.1993) (sections 1326(a) and 1326(b) state separate crimes). 12 This court has stated, in United States v. McGatha, 891 F.2d 1520, 1522-23 (11th Cir.1990), that we must examine the language, structure, and legislative history in determining whether the statute in question denounces a separate crime or provides for an enhanced sentence. In McGatha, we were dealing with a weapons charge and a plea agreement. The defendant had been charged with two counts of violating 18 U.S.C. Secs. 922(g)(1) and 924 (a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm). McGatha, after receiving notice that the government would seek enhanced sentencing under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(e)(1), pled guilty to one count of the indictment. 13 The government dismissed the other count. The district court in McGatha treated Sec. 924(e)(1) as a sentence enhancement provision, and not as the creation of a new, separate offense which must be alleged in the indictment and proved at trial. We affirmed that conviction. (It was not necessary in McGatha to discuss notice and due process because the plea agreement had followed full disclosure by the government of its intent to seek the enhanced penalty prior to the entry of the guilty plea.) It was not necessary in McGatha to decide, but it has now become necessary to decide whether section 1326 is a sentencing enhancement statute or a statute in three parts, each denouncing a separate crime. 14 We join the four other circuits that discussed the legislative evolution of Sec. 1326 through its various amendments, and concluded that Congress intended Sec. 1326 to denounce one substantive crime--unlawful presence in the United States after having been deported, with the sentence to be enhanced incrementally for those aliens who commit the offense after having been deported following convictions for nonaggravated or aggravated felonies. We also find helpful the reasoning of the First Circuit when it considered the prejudicial effect of placing before the jury an indictment charging, and proof establishing, that the defendant committed the offense after having been convicted of specific prior felonies. United States v. Forbes, 16 F.3d at 1298-1300. 15 Palacios-Casquete now argues that the government should be required to plead and prove the former convictions because it is frequently more difficult to prove former convictions than to prove that a person present in court has been found in the United States. Whatever may be the litigation strategy and logical persuasion of these arguments, the sentencing court in this case applied subsection (b)(2) as an enhancing provision consistently with our reasoning in McGatha, and that application was free from error. 16