United States v. Jorge Valdavinos-Torres

Introduction

Jorge Valdavinos-Torres (“Valdavinos”) was ordered removed in 2008 after immigration court proceedings. Sometime after his removal, Valdavinos returned to the United States without permission, and in 2010 was arrested and convicted for possession of methamphetamine in violation of California law. After serving a short jail sentence, Valdavinos was turned over to immigration officials and eventually indicted for illegal re-entry in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . Following a conditional guilty plea, Valdavinos was convicted and sentenced to 46 months in custody and two years of supervised release.

Valdavinos appeals his conviction and sentence, claiming the district court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the indictment. Valdavinos also argues the record failed to prove that the drug trafficking conviction leading to his 2008 deportation was a controlled substance offense qualifying for a sixteen-level sentencing enhancement. Lastly, Valdavinos challenges the district court’s imposition of supervised release.

This Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742 (a), and for the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the…