Opinion ID: 784243
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The District Court's Use of the 2001 Version of the Guidelines

Text: 14 Reinoso argues for the first time in his reply brief that the district court, in calculating his sentence, should not have used the 2001 version of the Guidelines, in effect at the time of his sentencing, but rather, should have used the 1998 version in effect at the time of his offense. Reinoso contends that the 2001 Guidelines had been amended to mandate higher penalties for the offense of illegal reentry than were in place under the 1998 version in effect in 2000, when he committed the offense. We will consider this argument because it could otherwise be raised in a collateral attack, and because it is entirely without merit. See United States v. Restrepo, 986 F.2d 1462, 1463 (2d Cir.1993) (considering argument that was not properly presented to the court on appeal in order to obviate the possibility of a collateral attack on the conviction). Section 1B1.11(a) of the Guidelines provides that [t]he court shall use the Guidelines Manual in effect on the date that the defendant is sentenced, but that [i]f the court determines that the use of the Guidelines Manual in effect on the date that the defendant is sentenced would violate the ex post facto clause of the ... Constitution, the court must apply the version of the Guidelines in effect when the offense was committed, id. § 1B1.11(b)(1). 15 Because Reinoso was sentenced in October 2002, the district court applied the 2001 version of § 2L1.2, which provides for a base offense level of 8, and the 16-level enhancement that Reinoso received because his armed robbery conviction counted as a previous conviction for a crime of violence. Id. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A) (2001). The 2001 version of § 2L1.2 reflected recent amendments, however, that altered the way in which the offense level increases in accordance with prior convictions. The 1998 version of § 2L1.2, which was in effect at the time that Reinoso illegally reentered the country, provides that the base offense level is 8, and that the offense level should be increased by the greater of 16 levels for a prior conviction of an aggravated felony, or 4 levels for a prior conviction of any other felony. Id. § 2L1.2(b)(1) (1998). Reinoso contends that the armed robbery conviction would have mandated only the 4-level enhancement, and therefore the 2001 Guidelines exposed him to a higher potential sentence than the version in effect when he committed the offense, requiring the district court to apply the 1998 Guidelines to calculate his sentence. 16 Because Reinoso failed to object to the district court's use of the 2001 Guidelines at his sentencing, we review only for plain error, United States v. Sofsky, 287 F.3d 122, 125 (2d Cir.2002), and find Reinoso's argument to be without merit. The foundation of his contention is that he would have received a lesser sentence under the 1998 Guidelines because his armed robbery conviction would have resulted in an offense level enhancement of only 4 levels, resulting in a total offense level of 12, rather than the level of 24 reached under the 2001 Guidelines. Reinoso ignores the fact that he has multiple convictions, however, and if any one of them would qualify as an aggravated felony conviction under § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A) (1998), he would have received a 16-level enhancement even under the 1998 Guidelines. Application note 1 defines an aggravated felony as one of the offenses enumerated by 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43), which includes a theft offense... or burglary offense for which the term of imprisonment is at least one year. 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(G). In 1989, Reinoso was convicted in New Jersey of attempted burglary of a motor vehicle, for which he received a sentence of four years' imprisonment. Because this aggravated felony conviction would have warranted a 16-level enhancement, which in turn would have placed Reinoso's sentence in the range of 77-96 months, see U.S.S.G. Ch. 5 pt. A (1998), Reinoso would have faced the same sentencing range under the 1998 Guidelines as he did under the 2001 Guidelines. The district court's use of the 2001 Guidelines therefore does not implicate the ex post facto clause or § 1B1.11, and the court correctly applied the version of the Guidelines in effect at the time of sentencing. 17