UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Hector Rene GOMEZ-RODRIGUEZ, Defendant-Appellee

The Government appeals the district court’s dismissal of an indictment charging Hector Rene Gomez-Rodriguez under 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (b)(2) with illegal reentry following his deportation that was subsequent to his conviction of an aggravated felony.

The essential issue in this case concerns the effective date of an amendment to the definition of an “aggravated felony” as it applies to a charge under section 1326(b)(2). Prior to his deportation, Gomez-Rodriguez had been convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. At the time of his conviction, this crime was not among the crimes defined to constitute an “aggravated felony.” However, prior to his reentry following his deportation, a statute had been enacted amending and expanding the definition of an “aggravated felony” to include, among other things, the assault crime of which he had previously been convicted. The district court held, as a matter of statutory interpretation, that the expanded definition did not apply to crimes committed prior to the date of enactment of the statutory amendment. It dismissed the indictment because a requisite element of the crime charged under section 1326(b)(2) is conviction of an aggravated felony…