Rodriguez-Sandoval

MEMORANDUM **

Defendant Juan Rodriguez-Sandoval (“Rodriguez”) appeals the sentence imposed by the district court following his guilty plea for illegal re-entry in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (a). Rodriguez contends that the district court erred by relying on his prior aggravated felony conviction to enhance his sentence under § 1326(b)(2) because it was not charged in the indictment or proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Rodriguez further argues that the district court erred by relying solely on the pre-sentence investigation report (“PSR”) as proof of his prior conviction.

Rodriguez’s first argument is foreclosed by Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 243-47 , 118 S.Ct. 1219 , 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998), which permits a district court to enhance a sentence on the basis of prior convictions, even if the fact of those convictions is not found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Weiland, 420 F.3d 1062 , 1079 n. 16 (9th Cir.2005).

Rodriguez’s second argument also fails because Rodriguez has never disputed the fact of his prior aggravated felony conviction, and a district court may properly rely on an un-controverted PSR to find the fact of…