United States v. Burboa
United States v. Burboa
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Rigoberto Burboa appeals his 24-month sentence, which the district court imposed after Burboa pled guilty to one count of Illegal Re-entry After Deportation in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a). Burboa challenges the district court’s determination that he suffered a prior aggravated felony conviction for purposes of enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(C). The government contends that Burboa cannot appeal his sentence because he knowingly and voluntarily waived his appellate rights in his plea agreement. The government also argues that even if appellate jurisdiction exists, the district court correctly determined that Burboa’s prior conviction constituted an aggravated felony for purposes of § 2L1.2(b)(1)(C). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.
In light of the district court’s oral representation to Burboa during the sentencing hearing, the waiver of appellate rights in the plea agreement is not a jurisdictional bar to Burboa’s appeal. See United States v. Buchanan, 59 F.3d 914, 917-18 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 970, 116 S.Ct. 430, 133 L.Ed.2d 345 (1995). The district court, however, did not err in calculating Burboa’s advisory Guideline sentence. See United States v. Cantrell, 433 F.3d 1269, 1280 (9th Cir. 2006).
Contrary to Burboa’s argument, under Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998), the district court was not required to submit the disputed facts to a jury. United States v. Velasquez-Reyes, 427 F.3d 1227, 1229 (9th Cir. 2005) (citing United States v. Pacheco-Zepeda, 234 F.3d 411, 415 (9th Cir. 2000)). The district court therefore did not err in resolving the factual discrepancy and concluding that the state court judgment contained a scrivener’s error.
Moreover, under the modified categorical approach, the district court concluded that Burboa was convicted of A.R.S. § 13-1814(A)(1), a subsection of § 13-1814 that qualifies as an aggravated felony. See United States v. Hernandez-Hernandez, 431 F.3d 1212, 1217 (9th Cir. 2005) (describing modified categorical approach to determining whether a prior conviction may be used for sentence enhancement). Having carefully reviewed the record, we agree. Accordingly, the district court did not err in applying the eight-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(C) in determining Burboa’s advisory Guideline sentence.
AFFIRMED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Cir. R. 36-3.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.