Gutierrez-Pantoja

MEMORANDUM *

Carlos Gutierrez-Pantoja appeals the sentence imposed after he pled guilty to Unlawful Reentry by a Deported Alien, 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (a). The district court sentenced Gutierrez-Pantoja to seventy months of imprisonment. The court applied a sixteen-level enhancement because Gutierrez-Pantoja had been previously deported after a conviction in California state court for a “drug trafficking offense for which the sentence imposed exceeded 13 months.” U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A). Gutierrez-Pantoja argues that his prior conviction under California Health and Safety Code § 11351.5 is not a “drug trafficking offense” under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A), and that the district court therefore erred by applying the sixteen-level enhancement.

We apply a two-step analysis when considering whether a prior conviction triggers a federal sentencing enhancement. First, we inquire whether the statutory definition of the prior conviction falls within the conduct described in the sentencing enhancement. United States v. Corona-Sanchez, 291 F.3d 1201, 1203 (9th Cir. 2002) (en banc). If so, the enhancement is triggered. Second, if the statute of prior conviction prohibits conduct both within and…