Cortez-Arias

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  No. 04-10184 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. v.  CR-03-00192-

JOSE EMILIO CORTEZ-ARIAS, HDM/VPC

Defendant-Appellant.  OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada Howard D. McKibben, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted December 9, 2004—San Francisco, California

Filed April 18, 2005

Before: Dorothy W. Nelson, Andrew J. Kleinfeld, and Ronald M. Gould, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Gould COUNSEL

Robert B. Walker, Carson City, Nevada, for the appellant.

Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney, and Robert Don Gifford, Assistant United States Attorney, Reno, Nevada, for the appellee.

OPINION

GOULD, Circuit Judge:

Jose Emilio Cortez-Arias appeals from the 46-month prison sentence that the district court imposed for illegal re-entry into the United States after being deported, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a). The district court imposed a sixteen level increase in offense level pursuant to United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines…