United States of America v. Hugo Antonio Romero_Mencia

Las Cruces, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with re-entry of a removed alien.



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"[W]e uphold even substantial variances when the district court properly

weighs the § 3553(a) factors and offers valid reasons for the chosen sentence.”

Barnes, 890 F.3d at 916. And "we must give due deference to the district court's

decision that the § 3553(a) factors, on a whole, justify the extent of the variance.” Id.

at 917 (internal quotation marks omitted). As discussed above, the district court

provided detailed rationale behind its decision to vary upward in sentencing. Further,

the USSG. § 2L1.2(b)(2)(D) enhancement is a general enhancement that applies to

any felony conviction before deportation. See U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(2)(D) ("If, before

the defendant was ordered deported or ordered removed from the United States for

the first time, the defendant engaged in criminal conduct that, at any time, resulted in

. . . a conviction for any other felony offense (other than an illegal reentry offense),

increase by four levels[.]”). Accordingly, that enhancement did not account for the facts

and background of the Florida convictions, and the enhancement does not specifically

account for the speed with which Mr. Romero-Mencia re-entered the United States.

The Defendant pled guilty and was sentenced to 24 months' imprisonment, an upward variance from the United States Sentencing Guidelines (“Guidelines”) advisory range of 6 to 12 months’ imprisonment.