United States v. Rivera-Grijalva
United States v. Rivera-Grijalva
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Appellant/Defendant, Lucio Rivera-Grijalva (“Rivera”) appeals his conviction of one count of being in the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 and the resulting 37-month custodial sentence. We affirm.
Rivera’s Sixth Amendment challenge to his conviction based on the use of a Certificate of Nonexistence of Record to establish that he did not have permission to reenter the country is precluded by United States v. Cervantes-Flores, 421 F.3d 825 (9th Cir. 2005).
The district court did not err in imposing the sentence. The district court did not err in holding that a state conviction for possession of heroin could be considered an “aggravated felony” for purposes of enhancing his sentence under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2. As Rivera concedes, this court has consistently “interpreted the term "aggravated felony" to encompass any drug offense that is: (1) punishable under the Controlled Substances Act and (2) a felony under either federal or state law” for purposes of the sentencing guidelines. United States v. Rios-Beltran, 361 F.3d 1204, 1207 (9th Cir. 2004).
Rivera’s challenge to the continued viability of Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998) is precluded by United States v. Pacheco-Zepeda, 234 F.3d 411, 414 (9th Cir. 2001). In addition, contrary to Rivera’s assertions, Almendarez-Torres is not limited “to cases where a defendant admits prior aggravated felony convictions on the record.” United States v. Yanez-Saucedo, 295 F.3d 991, 993 (9th Cir. 2002) (internal quotation omitted).
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 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.