Opinion ID: 2811391
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Three Underlying Convictions

Text: 4 Case: 14-10591 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 Page: 5 of 24 1. Alien Smuggling Conviction Based on June 2005 Interdiction On June 7, 2005, the United States Coast Guard interdicted a drifting vessel approximately 15 nautical miles off the coast of North Key Largo, Florida. Defendant was one of the two operators of the vessel, which was carrying 20 Cuban nationals as passengers. The Coast Guard seized the vessel, which was owned by the father of a known alien smuggler, Javier Lopez. Responding to questions, both Defendant and his fellow pilot, Ernesto Lopez, explained that they had borrowed the boat from Javier Lopez to go fishing and had happened upon the 20 Cuban nationals stranded on some rocks. 1 Based on this incident, in December 2008, Defendant pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to induce aliens to come to the United States, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(v)(I). His Guidelines calculations, which included an enhancement for intentionally or recklessly creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another person, resulted in a sentencing range of 24 to 30 months. Judge Jose Martinez presided over the sentencing hearing held on February 11, 2009 in the Southern District of Florida. He imposed an 18-month sentence of imprisonment, to run consecutively to a 24-month sentence—earlier imposed by 1 On February 3, 2008, the Coast Guard interdicted another vessel off the Florida Keys carrying 30 Cuban nationals and two suspected smugglers. Defendant was considered a participant in this incident for purposes of his subsequent sentencing for the June 2005 incident, although he was not held accountable for the number of aliens on board that vessel. 5 Case: 14-10591 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 Page: 6 of 24 Judge Michael Moore, for later-occurring alien smuggling activity2—and to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release. 2. December 21, 2005 Attempt to Smuggle Aliens On December 21, 2005, only six months after the above June 2005 interdiction referenced above, Defendant was again captaining a boat that the Coast Guard observed to be “grossly overloaded” and that it interdicted near Key Largo, Florida. Turned out this boat had 36 Cuban nationals on board, ten of whom were minors. The Coast Guard had previously encountered this vessel near the Bahamas in 2005, and identified it as belonging to the “Javier/Leonardo” smuggling ring. The owner of the vessel told Coast Guard investigators that Defendant and Cabrera had borrowed the vessel to go cruising when they sighted and rescued some Cuban nationals from a sinking boat. The vessel owner further admitted that another vessel owned by him had been seized by the authorities when it had also been found transporting Cuban nationals. Defendant was interviewed and released. Later, in August 2006, he was ordered removed, but that never occurred and he was instead released on an order of supervision. On February 26, 2009, over three years after the above December 2005 interdiction and two weeks after the sentencing for Defendant’s role in the June 2 Notably, the sentencing for this June 2005 smuggling attempt, which was Defendant’s earliest known smuggling attempt, occurred after the June 2008 sentencing before Judge Moore for a later smuggling arrest in January 2007. At that June 2008 sentencing, Judge Moore imposed a 24-month sentence on Defendant. 6 Case: 14-10591 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 Page: 7 of 24 2005 interdiction, Defendant pled guilty to this December 2005 conspiracy to encourage and induce aliens to enter the United States, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(v)(I). On the same day as his guilty plea, Defendant was sentenced by Judge James Lawrence King to 30 months’ imprisonment, to run concurrently to his previous two consecutive sentences totaling 42 months, followed by a three-year term of supervised release. 3. January 7, 2007 Interdiction A little over a year after the December 2005 interdiction referenced above, on January 7, 2007, the Coast Guard again interdicted a vessel piloted by Defendant off the coast of the Florida Keys, heading from the Bahamas. Onboard this undocumented and unregistered vessel were 29 Cuban nationals and two suspected alien smugglers: Defendant and Erisbel Castro Cosme. Responding to questioning by ICE agents, Cosme and Defendant maintained that they were on a fishing trip and, by happenstance, had come upon and rescued these 29 Cuban nationals from a sinking boat. Apparently, this third time was the charm or, from Defendant’s point of view, the bane, as he was finally formally charged with alien smuggling and illegal reentry. Charges based on the earlier alien smuggling attempts in June 7 and December 21, 2005 were subsequently filed by the Government. 7 Case: 14-10591 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 Page: 8 of 24 In February 2008, Defendant pled guilty to two counts arising from the January 2007 smuggling attempt: one count of conspiracy to induce aliens to enter the United States and one count of illegal reentry, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(v)(I) and 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a), respectively. Pursuant to a plea agreement, the Government dismissed 29 related counts. Pertinent to later charges concerning Defendant’s own immigration status, the Presentence Investigation Report (“PSR”) also noted that, based on two of his earlier arrests for alien smuggling, Defendant had been ordered removed from the country, but was nevertheless released on an order of supervision. As this was the first sentencing hearing, albeit the Defendant’s last arrest in this series of interdictions, Defendant’s guidelines range was only 18 to 24 months. On June 24, 2008, Judge K. Michael Moore sentenced him to 24 months’ imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently, followed by a three-year term of supervised release. B. October 23, 2013 Arrest, Supervised Release Revocation, and Conviction
As noted, Defendant’s total sentence for the above three convictions for alien smuggling was 42-months imprisonment. His term of supervised release began upon his release from custody on August 21, 2011. In October 23, 2013, however, he was again arrested on suspicion of smuggling aliens. According to an 8 Case: 14-10591 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 Page: 9 of 24 affidavit of Coast Guard Senior Patrol Agent James Hawkins, Defendant and an accomplice, Yalian Puebla-Vasquez, were observed dropping off a large number of Cuban nationals on a Bahamian island. The vessel then traveled in the direction of the Florida Keys, where it was interdicted by the Coast Guard, “less than 10 minutes away from . . . crossing into the United States.” The Coast Guard apprehended Defendant and Vasquez and took them to the Marathon Border Patrol Station. Under questioning, Defendant first maintained that he was on a fishing trip, but when presented with a photograph of his vessel containing the passengers, he stated only that, “I left Miami, I was returning to Miami and I was in the Bahamas.” Later, authorities were able to make contact with the 33 passengers, some of whom were minors, who had been dropped off by Defendant and Vasquez. Defendant and Vasquez had left them on this uninhabited island with no food or water.
As a result of this arrest, and before an indictment was ever returned based on the events leading to this 2013 arrest, the Probation Office filed three identical petitions (one for each prior conviction and sentence) to begin revocation proceedings. These three petitions were subsequently consolidated. The petitions alleged three violations of Defendant’s supervised release: alien smuggling, illegal reentry, and leaving the Southern District of Florida without permission. 9 Case: 14-10591 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 Page: 10 of 24 Defendant denied that he had engaged in alien smuggling or had illegally reentered the United States, but he was prepared to admit that he had left the district without permission. By agreement with the Government, the alien smuggling and illegal reentry violations were dropped as grounds for revocation of supervised release, in exchange for Defendant’s agreement not to contest the remaining violation of leaving the district without permission. Because he had different criminal history categories for each of his prior convictions, given the different times at which he was sentenced, Defendant’s advisory guidelines ranges for the revocations varied from 3 to 9 months on the first conviction (criminal history category I), 4 to 10 months on the second conviction (criminal history category II), and 5 to 11 months on the third conviction (criminal history category III). See U.S.S.G. § 7B1.4(a), p.s. The statutory maximum sentence for each violation was 24 months. See 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3). The consolidated revocations petitions were assigned to Judge Michael Moore, who held a revocation hearing in February 2014. The court was advised that the alien smuggling and illegal reentry violations had been dismissed, leaving only the violation of leaving the district without permission. Defendant admitted to the court that he had left the district without permission, which constituted a sufficient ground for revoking Defendant’s supervised release. The court inquired 10 Case: 14-10591 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 Page: 11 of 24 whether Defendant was contesting the fact that he had been arrested for alien smuggling. Defense counsel conceded that he had been arrested, and the district court stated that it would “adjudicate him guilty of that.” In terms of the facts that the court could properly consider in imposing sentence, Defendant’s counsel took pains to emphasize from the outset that being arrested for an offense was not the same thing as proof that one was guilty of the offense, noting, “This case is not about alien smuggling. It is not about illegal reentry. If, in fact, there is to be an alien smuggling/illegal reentry case and whatever the result is of that matter, that is for another court on another day.” Defendant’s counsel made clear that the arrest for alien smuggling “remains an allegation and that is all it is at the present time.” The district court expressed skepticism at the notion that the violation of leaving the district should be “looked at . . . in a vacuum without the context [of the arrest for alien smuggling].” The court stated that it had “received the amended Report and Recommendation for a final revocation hearing and it set forth a fact pattern here, and for sentencing purposes I think the guidelines provide that the Court may consider information from a variety of sources.”3 As for Defendant’s contention that the violations that had been dismissed were for another court on 3 This Report and Recommendation draws from Agent Hawkins’ affidavit regarding the facts underlying the arrest following the October 23, 2013 abandonment of the 33 Cuban nationals on an uninhabited island. 11 Case: 14-10591 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 Page: 12 of 24 another day, the district court expressed uncertainty that Defendant would ever be prosecuted on the charge, stating that it “really [did not] know what the Government will do with respect to this law violation in terms of any future Indictment . . .” After defense counsel’s objection to the court’s consideration of Defendant’s suspected alien smuggling, reiterating that it was only an allegation at that time, the court acknowledged that it would be appropriate to consider Defendant’s alleged smuggling of aliens only if that charge were proved “[b]y a preponderance of the evidence.” At that point, the court orally recited the facts asserted in the affidavit of Agent Hawkins describing the details of Defendant’s apprehension and arrest on October 23, 2013. Further, the district court noted that, although no indictment had yet been returned, United States Customs and Border Patrol, the Department of Homeland Security, and the United States Attorney’s Office were still investigating the alleged alien smuggling and illegal reentry. The court then queried defense counsel, “Now, are you telling me that I cannot consider that information?” Defense counsel responded that the affidavit constituted double hearsay because the writing agent had not been on the scene. Further, while he agreed that the court could consider hearsay, the hearsay had to be reliable, which defense counsel argued was not the case here as the court was merely summarizing a Coast Guard report and Agent Hawkins had not been 12 Case: 14-10591 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 Page: 13 of 24 personally present for any of the events he described. Further, counsel noted that he not had any opportunity to question any of the people who had made the observations recited in the report. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 32.1(b)(2)(C) (providing opportunity at revocation hearing to “question any adverse witness”). Finally, he noted that the facts contained in the affidavit were not necessarily inconsistent with an inference that these Cuban nationals had been found, not transported, by the Defendant. Acknowledging Defendant’s point, the court then asked if it could at least consider the fact of the arrest as evidence that Defendant left the district, which Defendant’s counsel agreed that it could. Thus, with defense counsel’s acquiescence, the court decided that it could consider the fact that Defendant was out of the district in violation of his supervised release and that he had been arrested for alien smuggling while out of the district. Defendant’s counsel immediately reemphasized, however, that it was the Government’s burden to prove the alien-smuggling conduct underlying the arrest if the court indeed wished to consider that fact in imposing sentence. The court finally agreed that it would consider only the fact of arrest, not that Defendant was actually guilty of the smuggling conduct for which he was arrested. For its part, the Government made clear that while it had dismissed the other violations, they were still under investigation, and that it “can’t make any 13 Case: 14-10591 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 Page: 14 of 24 representations today about what will happen with that investigation.” Although recognizing that for purposes of the violation for leaving the district, it did not matter where Defendant had gone, the Government pointed out that Defendant “was found in international waters. And even with the representation that he was out there fishing, he has a history of getting into trouble when he goes out into international waters.” That fact “show[s] a high risk of future felonious conduct because he is out in international waters where he has gotten into trouble in the past.” The Government recommended “a middle-of-the-guideline range” consecutive sentences for each the three supervised release violations, to total 18 months. The court agreed that consecutive sentences were appropriate, but also indicated its belief that an upward variance from the guideline range was in order. The court explained its decision that an upward variance was warranted: [A]fter three convictions and three sentences, [Defendant] has simply shown utter contempt and disrespect for the laws of the United States. Having come to the United States approximately 10 years ago—and a portion of that time having been spent incarcerated on alien smuggling cases, apparently that period of incarceration, including a sentence that was concurrent to his earlier sentences . . . he is unable or appears to be unable or unwilling to conform his behavior to the requirements of the law in this country that this kind of smuggling activity is prohibited. And he just doesn’t seem to get that message. He didn’t get the message when he got 24 months, he didn’t get the message when he got 18 months, and he didn’t get the message when he got 30 months concurrent. 14 Case: 14-10591 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 Page: 15 of 24 With that, the court sentenced Defendant to a 24-month sentence of imprisonment on each of the three cases, to run consecutively, for a total of 72 months. The district court also imposed three concurrent 12-month terms of supervised release. Counsel objected to the reasonableness of the sentence, particularly “in light of the one violation.”
Following the revocation hearing arising out of the October 23, 2013 arrest, Defendant was eventually indicted on one count of attempted illegal reentry, in violation of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1326(a) and (b)(2). Because Defendant had outstanding orders of removal, and thus, had “self-deported” from the United States in travelling into international waters, the Government alleged that, by motoring back toward Florida from the Bahamas, Defendant had attempted to illegally reenter the United States. 4 Defendant went to trial on this one charge before Judge Jose Martinez, and a jury found him guilty of attempted illegal reentry. Defendant had an offense level of 24 and was in criminal history category V, which yields a guidelines range of 92 4 The Government acknowledged that it had not pursued an alien smuggling charge, presumably because the Cuban immigrants were left in the Bahamas before Defendant’s return to Florida, but it noted that the evidence it offered at trial was “tantamount to proving alien smuggling.” The trial court later surmised that the Government did not pursue the alien smuggling charge because, instead of brining his Cuban passengers to the United States, Defendant had dropped them off in Bahamian territory and “maybe that was his plan . . . to leave them there all along.” 15 Case: 14-10591 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 Page: 16 of 24 to 115 months. The Government recommended a 115-month sentence, to run consecutively to the sentence imposed by Judge Moore on the supervised release violation. The court instead sentenced Defendant to 92 months imprisonment to be served consecutively to the sentences imposed by Judge Moore, followed by a three-year term of supervised release. 5 In imposing the sentence, the court noted that Defendant had not only repeatedly flouted the laws of the United States, but had engaged in very dangerous conduct that showed his abject disregard for the lives and safety of the Cuban migrants, and that he had done so solely to make money. Defendant has filed a notice of appeal to this Court concerning his conviction and sentence, but that matter is not before us today.