United States v. Alejandro Gomez-Mendez

We are asked to decide whether a defendant’s prior California conviction for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor qualifies as a “crime of violence” under the federal Sentencing Guidelines.

I

On March 1, 2005, a U.S. Border Patrol agent found Alejandro Gomez-Mendez near the San Ysidro, California, Port of Entry. Gomez-Mendez was arrested after admitting that he was a citizen and national of Mexico and present in the United States without any documents permitting him to enter the United States legally. A grand jury returned a one-count indictment charging Gomez-Mendez with being a deported alien found in the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . Gomez-Mendez pled guilty to the charge without the benefit of a plea agreement.

The probation officer filed a presentence report, which indicated that the maximum term of imprisonment was twenty years and recommended a sentence of ninety-four months. The presentence report computed the base offense level as eight and concluded that a sixteen-level sentencing enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii) was appropriate because of Gomez-Mendez’s 2002 conviction for felony unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor…