USA v. Maria Martinez-Fraga

Filing

UNPUBLISHED OPINION FILED. [12-40031 Affirmed ] Judge: CES , Judge: PRO , Judge: JEG Mandate pull date is 11/19/2012 for Appellant Maria Del Carmen Martinez-Fraga [12-40031]

Case: 12-40031

Document: 00512036193

Page: 1

Date Filed: 10/29/2012

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
Fifth Circuit

FILED
No. 12-40031
Summary Calendar

October 29, 2012
Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee
v.
MARIA DEL CARMEN MARTINEZ-FRAGA,
Defendant-Appellant

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas
USDC No. 7:11-CR-01156-4

Before STEWART, Chief Judge, and OWEN and GRAVES, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Maria Del Carmen Martinez-Fraga (Martinez) pleaded guilty to conspiring
to harbor illegal aliens in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324 and was sentenced within
the Guidelines to 97 months of imprisonment. She appeals her sentence,
arguing that the district court erred when it enhanced her sentence under
U.S.S.G. § 2L1.1(b)(7)(D) based on the deaths of two aliens.
The sentencing court made exhaustive factual findings in support of its
determination that the deaths were reasonably foreseeable. Specifically, the
*

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 R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not
be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR.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.

Case: 12-40031

Document: 00512036193

Page: 2

Date Filed: 10/29/2012

No. 12-40031
court found that all members of the conspiracy knew that the aliens were to be
trekked on foot through the brush in the middle of summer. The trip was
intended to take two or three days, which in itself presented danger, but it was
foreseeable that they could be stranded in the brush for a longer period. Because
the aliens were required to travel through the brush in “extremely hot” weather
without sufficient food or water, the court further found it reasonably foreseeable
that members of the party might go in search of help, find a rural road and
collapse out of exhaustion, and be struck and killed by a motorist who did not see
them.
These findings are plausible in light of the record as a whole, and they
certainly do not give rise to a “firm and definite conviction” that the sentencing
court was mistaken. See United States v. Rodriguez, 630 F.3d 377, 380 (5th Cir.
2011); United States v. De Jesus-Ojeda, 515 F.3d 434, 442 (5th Cir. 2008).
AFFIRMED.

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