Diaz

United States v. Diaz

Good Law
37 F. App'x 880
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitJune 14, 2002No. 00-50709; D.C. No. CR-00-01856-IEGCalifornia295 words

Opinion

Lead Opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Susan Diaz appeals following her conviction by conditional guilty plea to one count of importation of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952 and 960. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Diaz contends that her indictment must be dismissed, because sections 952 and 960 are unconstitutional under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 490 , 120 S.Ct. 2348 , 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000) and United States v. Nordby, 225 F.3d 1053, 1058-59 (9th Cir.2000). This contention is foreclosed by our decisions in United States v. Buckland, 289 F.3d 558, 568 (9th Cir.2002) (en banc) (overruling Nordby’s conclusion that Congress committed drug quantity to the sentencing judge to decide by a preponderance of the evidence), cert. denied, 2002 WL 764233 (U.S. May 28, 2002) (No. 01-9813); United States v. Varela-Rivera, 279 F.3d 1174 , 1175 n. 1 (9th Cir.2002) (rejecting constitutional challenge to section 952 in light of Buckland); and United States v. Mendoza-Paz, 286 F.3d 1104, 1109-10 (9th Cir.2002) (concluding that Apprendi does not render section 960 facially unconstitutional).

Diaz contends, in the alternative, that section 960 requires the…

Sign in to read the full opinion

Create a free account to read the complete opinion text, citation history, and good-law status for this case.