United States v. Eduardo Davila-Medina

Case: 16-41027 Document: 00514752069 Page: 1 Date Filed: 12/07/2018
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
No. 16-41027 December 7, 2018
Summary Calendar
Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
EDUARDO DAVILA-MEDINA, also known as Jose Alberto Diaz-Flores, also
known as Jose Luis Torres-Medina,
Defendant - Appellant
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas
USDC No. 7:15-CR-1599-1
Before DAVIS, HAYNES, and GRAVES, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Eduardo Davila-Medina was convicted of illegal reentry into the United
States after removal on a plea of guilty. He was sentenced to a term of
imprisonment of 77 months to run concurrently with his state conviction. He
was ultimately sentenced to four years in Texas state prison, where he is
* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not
be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH
CIR. R. 47.5.4.
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No. 16-41027
currently housed, based upon a conviction for failing to register as a sex
offender.
Davila-Medina appeals his sentence, calculated under the 2015
Sentencing Guidelines, challenging three aspects of his sentencing guidelines
calculation: (1) the conclusion that his prior Texas conviction of burglary of a
habitation qualified as a crime of violence for purposes of the U.S.S.G. §
2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii); (2) the conclusion that his prior convictions of sexual assault
qualified as crimes of violence for purposes of § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii); and (3)
assessment of one point in his criminal history score under § 4A1.1(e), based
upon his second sexual assault conviction. The first alleged error was
preserved; the other two are subject to plain error review. Puckett v. United
States, 556 U.S. 129, 135 (2009)
The Government concedes, and we agree, that under our precedent in
United States v. Herrold, 883 F.3d 517 (5th Cir. 2018) (en banc), petition for
cert. filed (Apr. 18, 2018) (No. 17-1445), his burglary conviction (under Texas
Penal Code § 30.02) is not a crime of violence. The Government concedes, and
we also agree, that under our precedent in United States v. Hernandez-Avila,
892 F.3d 771 (5th Cir. 2018), his sexual assault of a child convictions (under
Texas Penal Code §22.011(a)(2)(A)) are not crimes of violence.
Thus, the district court committed clear error as to the burglary
conviction enhancement and error that was plain under the alternative ground
of sexual assault of a child. Because the latter error was not preserved, we
must analyze the two other prongs of plain error: whether it affected his
substantial rights and whether we should exercise our discretion to correct the
error. Puckett, 556 U.S. at 135.
In Molina-Martinez v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 1338, 1345 (2016)), the
Supreme Court explained that “most often” an error in calculating the
sentencing guidelines range will be sufficient to meet the third prong of the
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plain error analysis. Here, the guidelines range would have been lower (33-41
months v. 77-96 months) absent the enhancement. Davila-Medina was
sentenced at the bottom of the guidelines range the district court concluded
was applicable, and the judge gave no indication that the range did not affect
his analysis. We conclude, therefore, that the third prong is met.
Turning to the fourth prong, the Supreme Court recently clarified that,
in the area of sentencing guidelines calculation errors, an error that resulted
in a higher guidelines range generally establishes a reasonable probability that
the defendant will serve a sentence greater than needed to fulfill the objectives
of incarceration, reasoning that “[t]he risk of unnecessary deprivation of liberty
particularly undermines the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial
proceedings” because mistakes under the Guidelines are the result of judicial
error and can easily be addressed through resentencing. Rosales-Mireles v.
United States, 138 S. Ct. 1897, 1907-08 (2018). The Government offers no
arguments 1 to support a conclusion that this case presents a situation “where
countervailing factors [should] satisfy the court of appeals that the fairness,
integrity, and public reputation of the proceedings will be preserved absent
correction.” Id. at 1908. Indeed, its original brief relied upon the now-reversed
decision of our court in Rosales-Mireles, and its supplemental briefing does not
address the fourth prong at all. Of course, on remand, the district court can
consider the nature of Davila-Medina’s previous offenses and determine that
an upward variance or departure is appropriate. We offer no opinion in that
regard, instead entrusting that consideration to the discretion of the district
1 The Government instead argues that we should await the results of the pending
certiorari petition in Herrold. Even where the Supreme Court has granted certiorari, this
court is bound by its own precedent, unless and until that precedent is altered by a decision
of the Supreme Court. See Wicker v. McCotter, 798 F.2d 155, 157-58 (5th Cir. 1986). This
appeal has already been pending for two years. We thus deny the Government’s motion to
hold this appeal in abeyance pending the final results in Herrold.
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court. Similarly, because the enhancement errors are sufficient to require
reversal and remand of the sentence, we need not address the criminal history
point issue as the district court can consider that issue in the first instance on
remand.
Accordingly, we AFFIRM Davila-Medina’s conviction and VACATE his
sentence. We REMAND for resentencing in light of this opinion.
4