United States v. Victor Biurquez-Zaragoza

MEMORANDUM

Victor Manuel Biurquez-Zaragoza appeals from the 51-month sentence imposed following his guilty-plea conviction for reentry after deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we affirm.

Biurquez-Zaragoza contends that the district court erred when it determined that his prior conviction for attempted robbery categorically qualified as a crime of violence under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2. He argues that the Kansas definition of robbery is not a “crime of violence” under the sentencing guidelines because it contains no element of violent force. This is incorrect.

We have previously held that the enumerated offenses are “per se crimes of violence .... even though ‘force,’ as such, is not an essential element for conviction of those offenses.” United States v. Pereira-Salmeron, 337 F.3d 1148, 1152 (9th Cir. 2003). This holding was not altered by Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 1265 , 176 L.Ed.2d 1 (2010), which only addressed the term “violent felony” as used in the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924 (e)(1). “Crime of Violence” as used in the sentencing guidelines is a term of art; it explicitly includes…