United States v. Julio Almazan-Becerra

OPINION AND ORDER

ORDER

The opinion filed on August 1, 2006, cited at 456 F.3d 949 (9th Cir.2006) is hereby withdrawn.

OPINION

Almazan-Becerra appeals from his sentence of seventy months imprisonment after a conviction of illegal reentry following deportation in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . He argues that the district court’s application of both a sixteen-level and a twelve-level enhancement based on prior felony-drug convictions was erroneous. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3742 (a). We vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing.

I.

Almazan-Becerra is a Mexican national who was deported from the United States on three occasions: May 14, 1992, October 31, 1997, and September 12, 2002. On September 3, 2003, he was found in Northern California and later identified by his fingerprints. He was charged with and convicted of illegal re-entry, 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . He does not appeal from that conviction. Rather, he contends that he was improperly sentenced based on two potentially relevant prior convictions.

In January 1995, Almazan-Becerra was convicted of violating California Health & Safety Code § 11360(a), a felony drug offense, for conduct involving…