United States v. Herminio Garcia-Garcia

FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION DEC 09 2013 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 12-50352 Plaintiff - Appellee, D.C. No. 3:10-cr-01571-JLS v. MEMORANDUM* HERMINIO GARCIA-GARCIA, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California Janis L. Sammartino, District Judge, Presiding Submitted November 19, 2013** Before: CANBY, TROTT, and THOMAS, Circuit Judges. Herminio Garcia-Garcia appeals from the district court’s judgment and challenges the 70-month sentence imposed following his guilty-plea conviction for being a deported alien found in the United States, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm. * 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). Garcia-Garcia contends that the district court abused its discretion by relying on U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b) in imposing sentence. He argues that section 2L1.2(b) is not supported by empirical evidence, resulted in improper double counting of his prior conviction for possession of a controlled substance, arbitrarily increased his sentence based on unrelated prior conduct, and resulted in a disproportionately long sentence. These contentions lack merit. See United States v. Salazar-Mojica, 634 F.3d 1070, 1074 (9th Cir. 2011) (rejecting “broad allegation that the Sentencing Commission lacked justification to authorize increases in offense levels” under section 2L1.2); United States v. Garcia-Cardenas, 555 F.3d 1049, 1050 (9th Cir. 2009) (per curiam) (finding no improper double counting in using a prior conviction for a sentencing enhancement and for calculating criminal history score). The court did not procedurally err in relying on section 2L1.2(b) or otherwise abuse its discretion in imposing Garcia-Garcia’s sentence. See Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51, 55-56 (2007). The within-Guidelines sentence is substantively reasonable in light of the totality of the circumstances and the sentencing factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). See id. at 51. AFFIRMED. 2 12-50352