United States v. Roberto Santos-Salazar

MEMORANDUM

Appellant Roberto Manuel Santos-Salazar appeals his conviction by guilty plea and sentence for illegal reentry of a removed alien in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . On appeal, Santos-Salazar argues (1) that the district court erred by denying his motions for new counsel when he indicated that he and his attorney had communication issues, and (2) that the sentence imposed was substantively unreasonable given the age of a 1996 domestic violence conviction that gave rise to the sixteen-level enhancement. We affirm.

1. “[A]n unconditional guilty plea ... ‘constitutes a waiver of the right to appeal all non-jurisdictional antecedent rulings and cures all antecedent constitutional defects.’” United States v. Foreman, 329 F.3d 1037, 1038 (9th Cir.2003), overruled on other grounds by United States v. Jacobo Castillo, 496 F.3d 947, 949 (9th Cir. 2007) (en banc) (quoting United States v. Reyes-Platero, 224 F.3d 1112, 1114 (9th Cir.2000)); see Tollett v. Henderson, 411 U.S. 258, 267 , 93 S.Ct. 1602 , 36 L.Ed.2d 235 (1973) (holding a valid guilty plea constitutes a complete waiver of claims of error occurring prior to plea, including claims arising out of the denial of a motion to…