Court Opinion

ID: 9391708
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-03 00:00:56.033582+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:43.957216
License: Public Domain

Case: 21-40730         Document: 00516735364             Page: 1      Date Filed: 05/02/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                      ____________                              United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                         Fifth Circuit

                                       No. 21-40730
                                                                                       FILED
                                                                                      May 2, 2023
                                     Summary Calendar
                                     ____________                                 Lyle W. Cayce
                                                                                       Clerk
   United States of America,

                                                                      Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                             versus

   Danay Rego-Plasencia,

                                               Defendant—Appellant.
                      ______________________________

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                          for the Southern District of Texas
                               USDC No. 1:18-CR-405-2
                      ______________________________

   Before Barksdale, Higginson, and Ho, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam:*
          Following a bench trial, Danay Rego-Plasencia was convicted of
   multiple counts in connection with her participating in smuggling illegal
   aliens into the United States in a tractor-trailer. See 8 U.S.C. §§ 2, 1324. She
   was sentenced to a below-Guidelines range of 40-months’ imprisonment.

          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 21-40730      Document: 00516735364           Page: 2     Date Filed: 05/02/2023

                                     No. 21-40730

          Rego maintains the district court erred in denying her request for a
   four-level minimal-role reduction pursuant to Sentencing Guideline
   § 3B1.2(a).
          Although post-Booker, the Guidelines are advisory only, the district
   court must avoid significant procedural error, such as improperly calculating
   the Guidelines sentencing range. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 46, 51
   (2007). If no such procedural error exists, a properly preserved objection to
   an ultimate sentence is reviewed for substantive reasonableness under an
   abuse-of-discretion standard. Id. at 51; United States v. Delgado-Martinez,
   564 F.3d 750, 751–53 (5th Cir. 2009). In that respect, for issues preserved in
   district court, its application of the Guidelines is reviewed de novo; its factual
   findings, only for clear error. E.g., United States v. Cisneros-Gutierrez, 517
   F.3d 751, 764 (5th Cir. 2008).
          The district court’s finding Rego was not entitled to a minimal-role
   adjustment is reviewed for clear error. E.g., United States v. Gomez-Valle, 828
   F.3d 324, 327 (5th Cir. 2016). “A factual finding is not clearly erroneous if it
   is plausible in light of the record read as a whole.” Id. (citation omitted).
          The record shows Rego:           arranged meetings between her co-
   participants; served as a decoy to distract officers at the border checkpoint
   before the tractor-trailer crossed; drove in tandem with the tractor-trailer and
   scouted the highway for law enforcement; doctored the tractor-trailer’s bill
   of lading; helped program the tractor-trailer’s electronic log; and was paid
   thousands of dollars for her participation in the criminal activity. In the light
   of the record, the district court’s finding she was not a minimal participant
   was plausible. See U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2 cmt. n.4; Gomez-Valle, 828 F.3d at 327;
   United States v. Bello-Sanchez, 872 F.3d 260, 264 (5th Cir. 2017) (noting when
   “factors support a plausible judgment in either direction”, denial of
   reduction is not clearly erroneous).

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Case: 21-40730       Document: 00516735364           Page: 3     Date Filed: 05/02/2023

                                      No. 21-40730

          Regarding that finding, and for the first time on appeal, Rego asserts
   that, in denying the minimal-role adjustment, the court erroneously
   compared her to participants in alien-smuggling crimes generally, instead of
   the co-participants in her specific case. Because Rego did not raise this issue
   in district court, review is only for plain error. E.g., United States v. Broussard,
   669 F.3d 537, 546 (5th Cir. 2012).
          Under that standard, Rego must show a forfeited plain error (clear-or-
   obvious error, rather than one subject to reasonable dispute) that affected her
   substantial rights. Puckett v. United States, 556 U.S. 129, 135 (2009). If she
   makes that showing, we have the discretion to correct the reversible plain
   error, but generally should do so only if it “seriously affect[s] the fairness,
   integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings”. Id.
          Even assuming arguendo the court committed the requisite clear-or-
   obvious error, Rego could not demonstrate her substantial rights were
   affected because the evidence supports denial of a minimal-role adjustment
   under the correct standard (her co-participants). E.g., id.; Bello-Sanchez, 872
   F.3d at 264; United States v. Perez, 484 F.3d 735, 745 (5th Cir. 2007) (holding
   that even if court erred by using incorrect legal standard in applying
   sentencing enhancements, error did not affect defendant’s substantial rights
   because there was “sufficient evidence to support the enhancements under
   the correct standard”).
          AFFIRMED.

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