United States v. Florentino Marquez-Lobos

Florentino Marquez-Lobos appeals the 16-level enhancement of his sentence due to his prior 1985 conviction for kidnapping, under Arizona Revised Statute (ARS) § 13-1304. The district court found that his prior kidnapping conviction was a “crime of violence,” as defined under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A), and sentenced him to a term of 58 months in prison for illegally entering the country after deportation. On appeal, Marquez-Lobos contends that ARS § 13-1304 does not meet the generic definition of kidnapping, and therefore does not qualify as a “crime of violence” under either the categorical or modified categorical approach.

In United States v. Gonzalez-Perez, 472 F.3d 1158, 1161 (9th Cir.2007), we held that the generic definition of kidnapping “encompasses, at a minimum, the concept of a ‘nefarious purpose’ motivating restriction of a victim’s liberty” in addition to “the unlawful deprivation of another person’s liberty of movement.” We hold that ARS § 13-1304 categorically meets this generic definition, and we affirm MarquezLobos’s sentence.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Marquez-Lobos pled guilty to illegal reentry after…