United States v. Pedro Esquivel-Miranda

MEMORANDUM

Pedro Esquivel-Miranda, a native and citizen of Mexico, pled guilty to a one-count indictment charging him with illegal reentry into the United States after deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (b)(2), and was sentenced principally to a term of imprisonment of 46 months. He appeals from the judgment, arguing that the district court erred in (1) determining that his predicate felony conviction was a crime of violence within the meaning of U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A), and (2) failing to depart downward or otherwise impose a lower sentence.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review the district court’s interpretation of the sentencing guidelines, as well as the legality of a guideline sentence, de novo. See United States v. Williams, 291 F.3d 1180, 1191 (9th Cir.2002) (per curiam), overruled on other grounds by United States v. Gonzales, 506 F.3d 940, 942 (9th Cir.2007) (en banc); United States v. Alexander, 287 F.3d 811, 818 (9th Cir.2002). We review a district court’s application of the sentencing guidelines to the facts and the substantive reasonableness of a sentence under an abuse of discretion standard. See United States v. Autery, 555 F.3d 864,…