FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION OCT 25 2013
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
ISMAEL MENDOSA-HERNANDEZ, No. 12-71594
Petitioner, Agency No. A091-009-873
v.
MEMORANDUM*
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted October 15, 2013**
Before: FISHER, GOULD, and BYBEE, Circuit Judges.
Ismael Mendosa-Hernandez, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for
review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his
appeal from an immigration judge’s decision denying his application for
cancellation of removal. Our jurisdiction is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
review de novo questions of law. Banuelos-Ayon v. Holder, 611 F.3d 1080, 1082
(9th Cir. 2010). We deny in part and dismiss in part the petition for review.
The BIA correctly concluded that each of Mendosa-Hernandez’s 2007 and
2010 convictions under California Penal Code § 273.5(a), which resulted in 5- and
3-year prison sentences, respectively, constitutes an aggravated-felony crime of
violence under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(F) that renders him statutorily ineligible to
seek cancellation of removal. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(a)(3); see also Banuelos-Ayon,
611 F.3d at 1083 (“[A] conviction under California Penal Code § 273.5(a) is
categorically a crime of violence . . . .”).
We must reject Mendosa-Hernandez’s challenge to this court’s decision in
Banuelos-Ayon. See Aragyan v. Holder, 646 F.3d 672, 677 (9th Cir. 2011) (“A
three-judge panel [generally] cannot reconsider or overrule circuit
precedent . . . .”); see also BMW of N. Am., Inc. v. Gore, 517 U.S. 559, 577 (1996)
(“[O]nly state courts may authoritatively construe state statutes.”).
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED in part; DISMISSED in part.
2 12-71594