United States v. Romero
Opinion
Rumeni Daniel Romero pled guilty to unlawful re-entry into the United States, in violation of
The relevant facts follow. On January 24, 2017, Department of Homeland Security agents apprehended Romero in the course of an investigation in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Romero, a native of Honduras, had been ordered removed from the United States and deported to Honduras on four occasions between 2006 and 2013. On February 23, he was charged with unlawful re-entry, in violation of
*92 The Probation Office prepared Romero's PSR on June 5, 2017. The report applied, inter alia, a four-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(2)(D) on the grounds that by the time Romero was first deported, he had already been convicted of felonies other than illegal re-entry: use of a motor vehicle without authority, and assault and battery. Based on that enhancement and other adjustments, Romero's offense level was 19 and his Guidelines range was 46-57 months. Romero did not object to the enhancement; instead, he stated in his sentencing memorandum that "there is no dispute that the [Guidelines range] is 46-57 months (level 19, CHC IV)."
At Romero's sentencing hearing, held on July 11, 2017, the district court checked with the parties that it correctly understood that "there is no dispute with respect to the sentencing guideline range." Romero's counsel confirmed that the court's understanding was "correct" and that the offense level of 19 and corresponding Guidelines range of 46-57 months set forth in the PSR rested on "correct calculations." After hearing the parties' sentencing recommendations and noting that it had considered Romero's Guidelines range as a "beginning point," the court sentenced Romero to a below-guidelines term of 42 months' imprisonment.
On appeal, Romero claims for the first time that the district court's application of the § 2L1.2(b)(2)(D) enhancement was in error. He cites Application Note 3 to § 2L1.2, which instructs that for purposes of applying subsection (b)(2) "only those convictions that receive criminal history points" should be used. The purported predicate convictions in Romero's PSR did not receive criminal history points. Without the enhancement, Romero's offense level would be 15 instead of 19, and his Guidelines range would be 30-37 months instead of 46-57 months.
We review unpreserved challenges to the procedural reasonableness of a sentence for plain error.
United States
v.
Rondón-García
,
The government concedes that Romero can establish plain error because application of the § 2L1.2(b)(2)(D) enhancement was a "clear and obvious" error that affected his "substantial rights." And the Supreme Court recently held that "[i]n the ordinary case, as here, the failure to correct a plain Guidelines error that affects a defendant's substantial rights will seriously affect the fairness, integrity, and public reputation of judicial proceedings."
Rosales-Mireles
v.
United States
, --- U.S. ----,
The government's sole argument for an affirmance is that Romero waived his claim of error.
See
United States
v.
Corbett
,
We are dubious about the government's waiver rationale. Sentencing judges routinely ask defendants whether they have any objections to the contents of their presentence report, including in particular the calculated Guidelines range. Where the Probation Office has committed an error in preparing a presentence report that was not then caught by either the prosecution or defense counsel, treating the defendant's general concession that he has no objections and that the calculated Guidelines range is "correct" as a waiver of his right to challenge a subsequently identified error on appeal would undermine our law's distinction between forfeiture and waiver.
Cf.
Rosales-Mireles
,
In any event, we need not decide whether Romero's representations to the court amounted to waiver, for even if they did, we would excuse the waiver in the interest of justice.
See
United States
v.
Torres-Rosario
,
Vacated and Remanded .
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Rumeni Daniel ROMERO, Defendant, Appellant.
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published