Opinion ID: 3201249
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The District Court Correctly Imposed a

Text: Sentencing Enhancement for Drug Trafficking. For the same reasons that Vega-Ortiz’s conviction under § 11378 qualified as an aggravated felony, the district court properly imposed a drug trafficking sentence enhancement. Section 2L1.2 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines, permits a 12-level increase to the base offense level if a defendant was convicted of a “felony drug trafficking offense.” U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(B). A drug trafficking offense is “an offense under federal, state, or local law that prohibits the manufacture, import, export, distribution, or dispensing of, or offer to sell a controlled substance . . . or the possession of a controlled substance . . . with intent to manufacture, import, export, distribute, or dispense.” Id. § 2L1.2, Application Note 1(B) (2013). As previously discussed, the California statute of conviction prohibits possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute. See Cal. Health & Saf. Code § 11378. Thus, the district court’s application of the 12-level sentencing enhancement was permissible.