United States v. Enrique Fonseca-Martinez

Defendant-appellant Enrique Fonseca-Martinez petitioned the district court, requesting that it exercise its power to issue the little-used common law writ of audita querela to vacate his 1987 conviction on a federal drug offense. The district court denied defendant’s petition and Fonseca-Mar-tinez appealed. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I.FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Appellant, a thirty-six year old citizen of Mexico and legal resident of the United States, pleaded guilty in 1987 to one count of possessing heroin with the intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1). Appellant was sentenced to three years imprisonment to be followed by a period of three years probation. Appellant served the prison sentence and was released. Subsequently, he was arrested again and convicted in Oregon state court on April 29, 1993 on a misdemeanor charge of receipt of stolen auto parts.

Because of his 1987 drug conviction, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) entered an order of deportation against appellant. On May 27, 1993, appellant filed a petition for writ of audita querela in the federal district court in which he…