United States v. Pedro Dominguez-Garcia

MEMORANDUM

This is the third in a series of appeals where the government has agreed to a four-level downward departure in exchange for early disposition of an 8 U.S.C. § 1326 charge pursuant to guidelines set forth by the Department of Justice in a memorandum dated January 31, 2012 by James M. Cole, and the district judge has rejected the plea agreement based, in part, on his disagreement with the government’s interpretation of the criteria in that memorandum. But, unlike in the prior two cases, United States v. Lara-Renteria, No. 13-50419, 585 Fed.Appx. 561 , 2014 WL 5370067 (9th Cir. Oct. 23, 2014) and United States v. Hernandez-Hernandez, No. 13-504543, 585 Fed.Appx. 562 , 2014 WL 5370071 (9th Cir. Oct. 23, 2014), some parts of the district judge’s explanation cause us to question whether he may have developed an impermissible “blanket policy” of rejecting fast-track plea agreements in recidivist cases where a Mexican citizen defendant has returned to his U.S. citizen family following deportation. See United States v. Gonzalez, 502 Fed.Appx. 665 (9th Cir.2012) (holding that a district court’s “blanket policy against accepting any binding plea agreements in fast-track cases”…