United States of America v. Ted Joseph Valdez

Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with conspiracy to transport aliens.





Defendant worked in South Dakota on solar windmills. He was in a serious car accident and claims he sustained a traumatic brain injury. After the accident, he moved to Mexico and worked at a food stand for less income. He accepted an offer to drive two aliens from southern New Mexico to another part of the southwest. He transported them in his own vehicle.

A border patrol agent followed Defendant's truck for twenty-seven miles.



Defendant crossed road lines and varied his speed from forty-five to seventy miles per hour. Defendant immediately pulled over when signaled. Defendant confessed at the border patrol station that he'd been asked to pick up the two immigrants, whom he knew to be illegally in the United States, and take them further into the country for $1,000.



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Although the United States Sentencing Guidelines give district courts an advisory imprisonment range when sentencing a defendant, it is exactly that: advisory. We reiterate our longstanding holding that the Guideline-imprisonment range is not mandatory. If the district court determines that a within-guidelines sentence will not accomplish the sentencing's goals, it may impose a substantively reasonable sentence outside the Guideline-imprisonment range so long as it offers significant explanation.

Defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to twenty-four months in prison.



Affirmed