United States v. Melecio Aldana-Ortiz

FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION JUN 18 2010 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 09-50276 Plaintiff - Appellee, D.C. No. 3:09-CR-01051-LAB v. MEMORANDUM * MELECIO ALDANA-ORTIZ, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California Larry A. Burns, District Judge, Presiding Submitted May 25, 2010 ** Before: CANBY, THOMAS, and W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judges. Melecio Aldana-Ortiz appeals from the 68-month sentence imposed following his guilty-plea conviction for attempted entry after deportation, in * 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). violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm. Aldana-Ortiz contends that the district court procedurally erred by: (1) failing to respond to his non-frivolous argument that a sixteen-level enhancement, under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2, was sufficient to compensate for any underrepresentation in his criminal history score, and (2) focusing on the need for deterrence to the exclusion of the other 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors. The record reflects that the district court did not procedurally err. See United States v. Carty, 520 F.3d 984, 992-93 (9th Cir. 2008) (en banc). Aldana-Ortiz further contends that his sentence is substantively unreasonable under United States v. Amezcua-Vasquez, 567 F.3d 1050, 1056 (9th Cir. 2009), because the sixteen-level enhancement was predicated on a “stale” conviction. In light of the totality of the circumstances of this case and the § 3553(a) sentencing factors, the sentence is substantively reasonable. See United States v. Valencia-Barragan, 600 F.3d 1132, 1137 (9th Cir. 2010); United States v. Higuera-Llamos, 574 F.3d 1206, 1211-12 (9th Cir. 2009); cf. Amezcua-Vasquez, 567 F.3d at 1055-57. AFFIRMED. 2 09-50276