Amezcua-Vasquez

OVERVIEW

Javier Amezcua-Vasquez (“Amezcua”), a native and citizen of Mexico, appeals his 52-month prison sentence for attempting to reenter the United States unlawfully in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . Nearly fifty years after becoming a permanent resident and more than twenty years after completing a four-year sentence for assault with great bodily injury and attempted voluntary manslaughter, Amezcua was deported to Mexico as an alien convicted of an aggravated felony. Shortly thereafter, he was apprehended re-entering the United States. He was indicted and pled guilty to one count of illegal reentry in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . The district court applied a 16-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A)(ii), which was predicated on Amezeua’s twenty-five-year-old convictions, and imposed a Guidelines sentence of 52 months imprisonment. We vacate Amezeua’s sentence as substantively unreasonable under United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 , 125 S.Ct. 738 , 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), and remand the case to the district court for resentencing.

BACKGROUND

In 1957, Amezcua, a native and citizen of Mexico, became a permanent resident of the United States. He was two years old…