Espinoza-Baza
United States v. Espinoza-Baza
Opinion
Opinion
Wallace, J.
After a three-day jury trial in May 2009, Espinoza-Baza was convicted on two counts of violating 8 U.S.C. § 1326 , which prohibits a deported alien from reentering the United States without the consent of the United States Attorney General. Espinoza-Baza now appeals from his conviction and from his subsequent sentence of ninety-six months’ imprisonment. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.
I.
Espinoza-Baza was born in Mexico on July 2, 1980. Three years later, his family relocated to the United States, where Espinoza-Baza resided for the next nineteen years. In January 2002, after being convicted on a series of drug-related offenses, Espinoza-Baza was deported to Mexico.
Not long after his 2002 deportation, Espinoza-Baza illegally reentered the United States and engaged in more criminal conduct. As a result, following a state conviction for assault with a deadly weapon, Espinoza-Baza was deported for the second time in February 2005. Again, however, Espinoza-Baza immediately returned to the United States, where he was apprehended after committing two additional offenses: disturbing the peace in October 2005 and evading a peace officer in…