United States v. Arquimedes Mendoza-Soriano

MEMORANDUM

Appellant Arquimedes Mendoza-Soriano appeals his sentence of seventy months’ imprisonment imposed by the district court following his plea of guilty to illegal reentry by a deported alien in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of § 1326 is two years’ imprisonment, unless a sentence enhancement applies. 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (a), (b). A sentence enhancement applies when an alien was deported subsequent to an aggravated felony conviction; the maximum statutoiy penalty increases to twenty years’ imprisonment. Id. § 1326(b)(2). We affirm the sentence imposed by the district court.

On appeal, Mendoza-Soriano makes two different claims as to why the district court erred when it applied a § 1326(b) sentence enhancement: (1) the govern ment failed to allege in the indictment and prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that at least one of his deportations was subsequent to an aggravated felony conviction; and (2) he did not admit to the deportation dates alleged in the indictment. Mendoza-Soriano raised the former claim, but not the latter, before the district court.

Mendoza-Soriano contends the government was required to allege in the…