USA v. SALAZAR-LOPEZ
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in USA v. SALAZAR-LOPEZ, No. 06-50438, a criminal appeal. The panel consisted of Raymond C. Fisher and Richard R. Clifton, Circuit Judges, and Jeremy D. Fogel, District Judge.
CLIFTON, Circuit Judge:
We decide two questions. First, for a defendant convicted of being a previously removed alien found in the United States, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326, we must resolve whether the dates of a previous felony conviction and of a previous removal from the United States, subsequent to that conviction, must be alleged in the indictment and proved to a jury for the defendant to be subject to an increased sentence under 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b). We answer that question in the affirmative. Second, we consider whether such an error, in a context that affects only sentencing, is subject to harmless error analysis. We answer that question in the affirmative, as well. Since we hold that the error here was harmless, we affirm the sentence imposed by the district court on this defendant. . . .