USA v. Martin Ovalle-Garcia

Filing

PUBLISHED OPINION FILED On Remand from the Supreme Court of the United States. [16-40829 Dismissed and Remanded] Judge: JLD, Judge: ECP, Judge: PRO. Mandate pull date is 08/29/2017 for Appellant Martin Ovalle-Garcia [16-40829]

Case: 16-40829

Document: 00514106534

Page: 1

Date Filed: 08/08/2017

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 16-40829
Conference Calendar
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit

FILED
August 8, 2017
Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk

Plaintiff–Appellee,
v.
MARTIN OVALLE-GARCIA,
Defendant–Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas
ON REMAND FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Before DENNIS, PRADO, and OWEN, Circuit Judges.
EDWARD C. PRADO, Circuit Judge:
Martin Ovalle-Garcia pleaded guilty to illegal reentry after conviction of
an aggravated felony under 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) and (b)(2). He received a 12level sentencing enhancement because he was previously deported after a
conviction for a felony that was a crime of violence. U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii)
(2015). This Court affirmed the conviction and sentence. United States v.
Ovalle-Garcia, 672 F. App’x 421 (5th Cir. 2016) (per curiam). The Supreme
Court then vacated the judgment and remanded for further consideration in

Case: 16-40829

Document: 00514106534

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Date Filed: 08/08/2017

No. 16-40829
light of Esquivel-Quintana v. Sessions, 137 S. Ct. 1562 (2017). Ovalle-Garcia v.
United States, 137 S. Ct. 2215 (2017). In Esquivel-Quintana, the Court
addressed the generic meaning of sexual abuse of a minor, which is an
aggravated felony. See 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(A). The Court held that “in the
context of statutory rape offenses that criminalize sexual intercourse based
solely on the age of the participants, the generic federal definition of sexual
abuse of a minor requires that the victim be younger than 16.” EsquivelQuintana, 137 S. Ct. at 1568.
On remand, the parties agree that the predicate offense of which OvalleGarcia was convicted—Tennessee statutory rape—is broader than the generic
crime of statutory rape because the age of consent in Tennessee is 18. Thus,
Ovalle-Garcia’s statutory rape conviction does not qualify either as an
aggravated felony for purposes of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(2) or as a crime of violence
for purposes of U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii).
Ovalle-Garcia requests a limited remand to the district court for the
purpose of correcting the judgment to reflect the fact that he was previously
deported after a conviction of a non-aggravated felony. See United States v.
Quintanilla-Ventura, 616 F. App’x 189 (5th Cir. 2015) (providing this relief);
United States v. Mejia, 589 F. App’x 296 (5th Cir. 2015) (same). We explained
in United States v. Briceno, 681 F. App’x 334 (5th Cir. 2017), that this error in
the judgment is neither harmless nor moot because the erroneous judgment
could

have

collateral

consequences.

Specifically,

a

conviction

under

§ 1326(b)(2)—involving a prior conviction of an aggravated felony—is itself an
aggravated felony, “rendering [the defendant] permanently inadmissible to the
United States.” Id. Thus, we REMAND to the district court for the limited
purpose of correcting the judgment to reflect the correct offense of conviction
as under § 1326(b)(1).
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Document: 00514106534

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No. 16-40829
Because Ovalle-Garcia has served his sentence and been deported, he
does not request resentencing. In light of this express waiver of his challenge
to the sentence, we DISMISS his appeal of the sentence.

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