United States v. Heriberto Rios-Beltran

The issue presented by this case is whether a prior conviction for a criminal offense under Oregon law is properly viewed as punishable by more than one year’s imprisonment — and thus treated for federal sentencing purposes as a prior conviction for a “felony”' — when the statutory maximum for that offense under Oregon law exceeds one year but the sentence that can be imposed under the Oregon’s sentencing guidelines does not.

Defendant Heriberto Rios-Beltran appeals the sentence imposed on him after he pleaded guilty to unlawful reentry after deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (a). He had previously been convicted under Oregon law for possession of a Schedule II controlled substance. The district court held that the prior Oregon conviction was an “aggravated felony” un der United States Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.”) § 2L1.2 and, accordingly, applied an eight-level enhancement in calculating Rios-Beltran’s sentence.

Rios-Beltran contends that, under Oregon’s sentencing guidelines, he could not have been sentenced for the prior conviction to a period of imprisonment longer than one year, so his prior conviction could not properly be treated as a felony. We conclude…