United States v. Ordaz-Chavez
Docket: No. 05-10485
Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; May 1, 2006; Federal Appellate Court
Saul Ordaz-Chavez pled guilty to violating 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) for reentering the U.S. after deportation. The district court sentenced him to 41 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Ordaz-Chavez appealed the sentence, which was based on an eight-level enhancement of his offense level due to a prior aggravated felony conviction, specifically a 1991 conviction for second-degree commercial burglary under California Penal Code § 459. At sentencing, both Ordaz-Chavez and the court acknowledged that this conviction should not qualify as an aggravated felony under the categorical approach established in *Taylor v. United States*. The government conceded that using this burglary conviction for the enhancement was erroneous, but argued that another conviction could potentially serve as the basis. However, the sentencing transcript revealed ambiguity regarding which conviction the district court relied upon for the enhancement, as there were several listed in the presentence report. Additionally, the court requested further documentation, the specifics of which were unclear. Due to the lack of clarity regarding the basis for the sentencing enhancement, the appellate court vacated the sentence and remanded the case for resentencing. The decision is not designated for publication and cannot be cited in other cases in this circuit except as allowed by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.