United States v. Landeros-Vargas
United States v. Landeros-Vargas
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Alfredo Landeros-Vargas (Landeros) appeals his conviction and sentence for being a deported alien “found in” the United States, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a), and we affirm.
We conclude that the indictment was sufficient to charge an offense under 8 U.S.C. § 1326, despite the fact that it did not allege voluntary reentry, because it “charges all statutory elements of the offense ... -that the defendant is an alien; had been deported; was subsequently
It is also unnecessary for an indictment under § 1326 to include an “allegation of wilfulness.” Pena-Cabanillas v. United States, 394 F.2d 785, 789 (9th Cir. 1968). Specific intent is not an element of the offense or a part of the government’s burden of proof. Id. at 790. Accordingly, the government was not required to prove that Landeros “knew he was not entitled to enter the country without the permission of the Attorney General.” Id. Likewise, the government was not required to prove that Landeros knew that he lacked the permission of the Attorney General to reenter; therefore, it was unnecessary to include an allegation of such knowledge in the indictment. We decline to reexamine our holding in Pena-Cabanillas because Landeros has faded to show that it has been overruled or effectively undermined by Carter v. United States, 530 U.S. 255, 120 S.Ct. 2159, 147 L.Ed.2d 203 (2000), or any of the other intervening Supreme Court cases that he cites. See Baker v. Hazelwood (In re Exxon Valdez), 270 F.3d 1215, 1235-36 & n. 85 (9th Cir. 2001) (citing United States v. Gay, 967 F.2d 322, 327 (9th Cir. 1992)). Moreover, we have previously declined to reconsider this rule, in spite of the significant increase in the penalties for a violation of § 1326. See United States v. Ortiz-Villegas, 49 F.3d 1435, 1437 (9th Cir. 1995). We decline to do so here as well.
The district court did not err in omitting a knowledge requirement from its jury instructions. Its instructions accurately reflected the law and properly stated the elements of the § 1326 “found in” offense. Landeros was entitled to nothing more. See United States v. Iverson, 162 F.3d 1015, 1025 (9th Cir. 1998).
The record also demonstrates that the district court did not clearly err in finding that Landeros was competent to stand trial. See United States v. Timbana, 222 F.3d 688, 700-01 (9th Cir.) (citing United States v. Chischilly, 30 F.3d 1144, 1150 (9th Cir. 1994)), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1028, 121 S.Ct. 604, 148 L.Ed.2d 516 (2000). Despite the conflicting opinion of the defense expert, it was within the district court’s discretion in the performance of its “fact-finding and credibility functions” to “assign greater weight” to the findings of the government’s expert, who found Landeros to be competent after three months of observation, reports from staff, and approximately five interviews, than to the contrary conclusion of the defense expert. See United States v. Frank, 956 F.2d 872, 875 (9th Cir. 1991).
We also reject Landeros’ contention that the district court violated Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), when it relied on a prior conviction for rape as an aggravated felony in determining his sentence, because that conviction was neither alleged in the indictment, admitted to by the defendant, nor proven at trial beyond a reasonable doubt. This argument is foreclosed by Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998), and United States v. Arellano-Rivera, 244 F.3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2001) (applying Almendarez-Torres to a case in which the defendant was convicted by a jury), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 122 S.Ct. 1450, 152 L.Ed.2d 392 (2002).
The judgment and sentence of the district court are therefore
AFFIRMED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit, except as may be provided by Ninth Cir. R. 36-3.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.