Quintero
United States v. Quintero
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM **
Carlos Valenzuela Quintero appeals his 56-month sentence following his guilty-plea conviction for unlawful reentry of a deported alien, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.
Quintero contends that the district court failed to rule on one of his suggested grounds for downward departure: over-representation of criminal history. This contention is unsupported by the record.
The district court, after entertaining extensive argument about Quintero’s two proposed grounds for departure, found the applicable guideline range to be appropriate and imposed a mid-range sentence. The record shows no confusion on anyone’s part about whether Quintero’s departure requests had been denied. See United States v. Rigby, 876 F.2d 392, 394 (9th Cir.1989) (rejecting asserted need for more express findings at sentencing, where defendant had a “full opportunity to request a more definitive ruling and did not do so”). We cannot review the merits of this unambiguous, discretionary denial of a downward departure. See United States v. Webster, 108 F.3d 1156 , 1158 & n. 6 (9th Cir.1997) (concluding that district court had exercised…