No. 18-1593

Jose Gracia-Cantu v. United States

Lower Court: Fifth Circuit
Docketed: 2019-06-27
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived Experienced Counsel
Tags: aggravated-felony circuit-split collateral-consequences crime-of-violence criminal-law-sentencing criminal-sentencing due-process immigration immigration-consequences mootness retroactivity sentencing-guidelines statutory-interpretation
Latest Conference: 2019-10-01
Question Presented (from Petition)

1. Whether the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit erred as a matter of law in holding that Petitioner's conviction for unlawful entry warranted an eight-level sentence enhancement under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines ("U.S.S.G.") because Petitioner's prior conviction for assault in Texas was a crime of violence under 8 U.S.C. § 16(a) and, as a result, an aggravated felony under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(F) and U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(C) (2016).

2. Whether the standard used by the Courts of Appeal for the Third, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits, to determine if an offense is categorically a crime of violence under 8 U.S.C. § 16(a) is legally erroneous, and the standard for such a determination used by the First, Second, and Fourth Circuits should instead be adopted uniformly across all Circuits.

3. Whether applying the Fifth Circuit's decision in United States v. Reyes-Contreras, 910 F.3d 169 (5th Cir. 2018) (en banc), which held, inter alia, that for purposes of determining whether a conviction is a crime of violence there is no distinction between direct and indirect force "retroactively" to Petitioner's sentence violated the Constitution's protection against unforeseeable judicial enlargements of criminal statutes.

4. Whether the issues presented in this Petition for Writ of Certiorari will not be moot upon Petitioner's release from incarceration because Petitioner will face harsh collateral immigration consequences due to his assault offense being classified as an aggravated felony by the Fifth Circuit.

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether a conviction for assault under a state statute that does not require physical force is categorically a crime of violence under 8 U.S.C. § 16(a)

Docket Entries

2019-10-07
Petition DENIED.
2019-07-17
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/1/2019.
2019-07-09
Waiver of right of respondent United States of America to respond filed.
2019-06-25
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 29, 2019)

Attorneys

Jose Gracia-Cantu
Raed GonzalezGonzalez Olivieri, LLC, Petitioner
United States of America
Noel J. FranciscoSolicitor General, Respondent