United States v. Oscar Ceballos

Oscar Ceballos pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He requested that the district court recommend a Southern California housing designation to the Bureau of Prisons. At the sentencing hearing, neither the district court nor counsel addressed this request. Eight days later, Ceballos and the government filed a joint stipulation asking the court to revise the Judgment and Commitment Order to include the designation recommendation. The district court denied the request. Ceballos appeals, asserting jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and/or 18 U.S.C. § 3742 . Because we lack jurisdiction to review a district court’s nonbinding housing recommendation, we dismiss the appeal.

I. BACKGROUND

Oscar Ceballos entered a plea agreement to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1) and (b)(l)(B)(viii). Ceballos and the government agreed that he was a career offender and that 188 months was the low end of the Guidelines range. In his sentencing memorandum, Ceballos requested that the district court recommend a Southern California housing designation to the Bureau of Prisons. See 18 U.S.C. § 3621 (b).…