United States v. Esly Pereira-Salmeron

This case presents the question of whether a prior felony conviction under Virginia Code § 18.2-63, for carnal knowledge of a child between 13 and 15 years of age, constitutes a conviction for a “crime of violence” under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines provision governing sentences for unlawful re-entry into the United States, U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2 (2002). Under the November 2001 amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines, a defendant convicted of unlawful re-entry may be subject to a greater sentence if he had previously been deported following a felony convietion. The level of sentence enhancement varies according to the nature of the defendant’s prior crime. The district court in this case held that Pereira-Salmeron’s 1999 conviction for “carnal knowledge of a child” constituted an “aggravated felony” under the Sentencing Guidelines, for which an 8-level enhancement was appropriate, but was not a “crime of violence,” for which a 16-level enhancement would have applied. We disagree, and conclude that Pereira-Salmeron’s prior Virginia conviction did involve a “crime of violence,” warranting a 16-level sentencing enhancement. We therefore vacate the district court’s sentence and remand…