Manjarrez-Arce
United States v. Manjarrez-Arce
Opinion
Opinion
Enright, J.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
On or about August 5, 1973, the appellant, Ignacio Manjarrez-Arce, was apprehended by officers on Otay Mesa Road near the international border at which time he was driving an automobile occupied by three illegal aliens. The appellant was charged in a three count complaint with violating 18 U.S.C. § 2 and 8 U.S.C. § 1325 , i. e., aiding and abetting illegal entry. Each of the counts charges the identical offense but names a different illegal alien who was in the appellant’s car. After being admonished as to the possibility of cumulative sentencing, the appellant pleaded guilty to each count and was sentenced to six months in jail on each count, with the sentences to run consecutively, for a total of eighteen months.
Subsequently, the appellant moved both for a reduction of sentence and for a correction of illegal sentence pursuant to Rule 35 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. He has appealed to the district court on the issue of whether the denial of correction was proper. The basic thrust of his argument on appeal is that consecutive sentences were beyond the authority of the magistrate.
A. The Power of the Magistrate
18 U.S.C. § 3401 provides in…