Opinion ID: 748759
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Aggravated Felony Enhancement

Text: 8 The Guidelines provide that the offense level of a defendant convicted of unlawfully entering the United States is to be enhanced by 16 steps [i]f the defendant previously was deported after a conviction for an aggravated felony. Guidelines § 2L1.2(b)(2). For purposes of this section, the term aggravated felony includes 9 any crime of violence (as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 16, not including a purely political offense) for which the term of imprisonment imposed (regardless of any suspension of such imprisonment) is at least five years; or any attempt ... to commit any such act[,] ... whether in violation of federal or state law. 10 Guidelines § 2L1.2 Application Note 7. Determining whether an offense was an aggravated felony thus involves two basic questions: (1) whether the offense was a crime of violence as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 16, and (2) whether the prison term imposed was at least five years. 11 The first is not in dispute here. As defined in 18 U.S.C. § 16, a crime of violence includes an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another. 18 U.S.C. § 16(a) (1994). The nature of the prior offense of conviction is controlled by the statutory definition of the offense, see, e.g., United States v. Amaya-Benitez, 69 F.3d 1243, 1248-49 (2d Cir.1995), and under the New York definition, one element of first-degree robbery is forcibly stealing property, N.Y. Penal Law § 160.15; see also id. § 160.00 (forcibly stealing involves us[ing] or threaten[ing] the immediate use of physical force upon another person). The crime of which Delgado was convicted in 1991--attempted robbery in the first degree--thus plainly has the attempted-use-of-force element needed to come within the scope of 18 U.S.C. § 16. 12 The second, and disputed, question is the narrow one of whether an indeterminate sentence imposing a maximum of five or more years, but a minimum below five years, constitutes a sentence of at least five years within the meaning of § 2L1.2 Application Note 7. Although indeterminate sentences are not mentioned in the § 2L1.2 commentary, we conclude for several reasons that this question should be answered in the affirmative. 13 First, in generally addressing the matter of what constitutes a sentence of at least five years, we have held that the court must look to  'the term of imprisonment imposed,' not the time served. United States v. Amaya-Benitez, 69 F.3d at 1247 (quoting Guidelines § 2L1.2 Application Note 7). [T]he fact that [a defendant] served less than five years is simply irrelevant to the analysis. Id. Second, for more than a century, sentences for variable or unspecified periods have been treated as sentences for the maximum period specified or, if unspecified, the maximum permissible under the pertinent penal statute. Thus, in 1930, we noted, discussing cases dating as far back as 1896, that [i]ndeterminate sentences have long been held sentences for the maximum term for which the defendant might be imprisoned. United States ex rel. Paladino v. Commissioner of Immigration, 43 F.2d 821, 822 (2d Cir.1930); see also Baughman v. United States, 450 F.2d 1217, 1220 (8th Cir.1971), cert. denied, 406 U.S. 923, 92 S.Ct. 1791, 32 L.Ed.2d 123 (1972); United States ex rel. Dentico v. Esperdy, 280 F.2d 71, 72 n. 1 (2d Cir.1960); Story v. Rives, 97 F.2d 182, 187 (D.C.Cir.) (An indeterminate sentence is one for the maximum period imposed ....), cert. denied, 305 U.S. 595, 59 S.Ct. 71, 83 L.Ed. 377 (1938); People v. Washington, 264 N.Y. 335, 338, 191 N.E. 7 (1934) (An indeterminate sentence is regarded as a sentence for the maximum term prescribed.); Black's Law Dictionary 771 (6th ed.1990) (defining [i]ndeterminate sentence as a sentence to imprisonment for the maximum period defined by law, subject to termination ... at any time after service of the minimum period). In United States ex rel. Paladino v. Commissioner of Immigration, we interpreted a statutory provision that authorized the deportation of certain aliens who had been sentenced more than once to a prison term of one year or more. 43 F.2d at 821 (internal quotation marks omitted). Paladino had twice been convicted of theft offenses in the New York courts. For his first crime, he served nearly 15 months. For his second crime, which carried a maximum prison term of 20 years, he received an indeterminate sentence with no stated term, and he served only nine months. Relying on the great weight of authority, we concluded that for purposes of the deportation statute, Paladino's indeterminate sentence with no stated maximum should be treated as a sentence to the maximum term authorized by the state's penal statute. Id. at 823. Because the penal statute authorized a maximum prison term of 20 years, we concluded that he had been sentenced to one year or more and was thus subject to deportation. See id. 14 Further, in the criminal history part of the Guidelines, indeterminate sentences are treated in a way that reflects this traditional interpretation. Under § 4A1.1, a defendant receives a specified number of criminal history points for any prior sentence of imprisonment, with the length of the prior sentence determining the number of points to be added. The term 'sentence of imprisonment' means a sentence of incarceration and refers to the maximum sentence imposed. Guidelines § 4A1.2(b)(1). When a defendant has been sentenced to an indeterminate term, the length of [his] sentence of imprisonment is the stated maximum (e.g., ... in the case of an indeterminate sentence of one to five years, the stated maximum is five years ... ). Id. § 4A1.2 Application Note 2. 15 The phrases the length of a sentence of imprisonment in § 4A1.2 Application Note 2 and a term of imprisonment [of] at least five years in § 2L1.2 Application Note 7, differ not in kind but rather in level of generality. We can see no logical reason to give indeterminate sentences inconsistent interpretations with respect to these two provisions. We think that if the Sentencing Commission had meant indeterminate sentences to be treated, for purposes of § 2L1.2(b)(2), differently from their treatment in § 4A1.2 and differently from their traditional treatment, it would doubtless have so stated. 16 We note that the definitions found in § 4A1.2 have often been borrowed to interpret terms in § 2L1.2. See, e.g., United States v. Cuevas, 75 F.3d 778, 782 & n. 10 (1st Cir.1996) (relying on § 4A1.2 to interpret § 2L1.2's use of the word conviction); United States v. Diaz-Bonilla, 65 F.3d 875, 877 (10th Cir.1995) (relying on § 4A1.2 to interpret § 2L1.2's use of the word felony); see also United States v. Olvera-Cervantes, 960 F.2d 101, 103-04 (9th Cir.1992) (relying on § 4A1.1 to interpret § 2L1.2's use of the word felony). Indeed, our Sister Circuits that have considered the proper interpretation of indeterminate sentences in the context of § 2L1.2(b)(2)'s enhancement for conviction of an aggravated felony have reached the same conclusion we reach here. See United States v. Cordova-Beraud, 90 F.3d 215, 218-20 (7th Cir.1996) (upholding § 2L1.2(b)(2) enhancement on the ground that, in light of § 4A1.2's definition of sentence of imprisonment, an indeterminate sentence of 2-10 years constituted a sentence of at least five years); United States v. Quinonez-Terrazas, 86 F.3d 382, 383 (5th Cir.1996) (upholding § 2L1.2(b)(2) enhancement on the ground that, in light of § 4A1.2's definition of sentence of imprisonment and the common law definition of an indeterminate sentence, a sentence of 4-10 years constituted a sentence of at least five years); see also Nguyen v. INS, 53 F.3d 310, 311 (10th Cir.1995) (affirming agency determination that a sentence of 3-8 years constituted a sentence of at least five years for purposes of 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)). 17 For these reasons, we conclude that Delgado's sentence of 30-90 months' imprisonment (i.e., 2 1/2-7 1/2 years) constitutes a sentence of at least five years and that his 1991 conviction for attempted robbery was therefore a conviction for an aggravated felony. The district court's enhancement of his offense level pursuant to § 2L1.2(b)(2) was proper.