United States v. Alvaro Zepeda-Toscano

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS DEC 19 2016 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 15-10572 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. 4:08-cr-01370-CKJ v. MEMORANDUM* ALVARO ZEPEDA-TOSCANO, Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Cindy K. Jorgenson, District Judge, Presiding Submitted December 14, 2016** Before: WALLACE, LEAVY, and FISHER, Circuit Judges. Alvaro Zepeda-Toscano appeals pro se from the district court’s orders denying his motion for a sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm. Zepeda-Toscano contends that he is entitled to a sentence reduction under * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). Amendment 782 to the Sentencing Guidelines. We review de novo whether a district court had authority to modify a sentence under section 3582(c)(2). See United States v. Leniear, 574 F.3d 668, 672 (9th Cir. 2009). Assuming without deciding that Zepeda-Toscano’s Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1)(C) plea agreement does not preclude him from a sentence reduction under United States v. Davis, 825 F.3d 1014 (9th Cir. 2016) (en banc), he is nonetheless ineligible for a sentence reduction under Amendment 782 because his sentence is already below the minimum of the amended guideline range. See U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10(b)(2)(A) (“[T]he court shall not reduce the defendant’s term of imprisonment under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) and this policy statement to a term that is less than the minimum of the amended guideline range.”). Accordingly, the district court did not err by denying Zepeda-Toscano’s motion. We reject Zepeda-Toscano’s claim that he received ineffective assistance of counsel because the Federal Public Defender did not represent him in these proceedings. AFFIRMED. 2 15-10572