United States v. Fernando Esparza

MEMORANDUM

Defendant-appellant Fernando Esparza (“Esparza”) appeals from his sentence for distribution of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2)(A). The district court applied a five-level sentencing enhancement for the number of images involved in the offense under § 2G2.2(b)(6)(D) of the November 2002/ April 2003 version of the United States Sentencing Guidelines (“Guidelines”), because, factoring in the images found in Esparza’s possession, it concluded that the offense included more than 600 images of child pornography. The district court relied on the definition of relevant conduct in § lB1.3(a)(l) of the Guidelines.

Esparza argues that the district court erred when it included the images in his possession as relevant conduct, relying on United States v. Williamson, 439 F.3d 1125 (9th Cir.2006). The government argues that Williamson is not binding precedent. But we cannot reconsider an issue that a panel has given reasoned consideration in a previous case, even if the earlier panel’s consideration of the issue was not strictly necessary. United States v. Johnson, 256 F.3d 895, 914-15 (9th Cir.2001) (en banc) (Kozinski, J., concurring); see also…