Opinion
No. 14-50407
09-06-2016
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. JUAN MUANUEL COTA-CHAVEZ, Defendant-Appellant.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
D.C. No. 3:14-cr-00031-DMS MEMORANDUM Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
Dana M. Sabraw, District Judge, Presiding Before: McKEOWN, CLIFTON, and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
Juan Muanuel Cota-Chavez appeals from the district court's judgment and challenges the 48-month sentence imposed following his guilty-plea conviction for importation of methamphetamine and heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952 and 960. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we vacate and remand for resentencing.
Cota-Chavez argues that the district court erred in denying a minor role reduction to his base offense level under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2(b). After Cota-Chavez was sentenced, the United States Sentencing Commission issued Amendment 794 ("the Amendment"), which amended the commentary to the minor role Guideline. The Amendment is retroactive to cases pending on direct appeal. See United States v. Quintero-Leyva, 823 F.3d 519, 523 (9th Cir. 2016).
Among other things, the Amendment added a non-exhaustive list of factors that a court "should consider" in determining whether to apply a minor role reduction. See U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2 cmt. n.3(C) (2015). Because we cannot definitively determine from the record whether the district court considered all of those factors in determining whether Cota-Chavez was entitled to a minor role adjustment, we vacate Cota-Chavez's sentence and remand for resentencing under the Amendment. See Quintero-Leyva, 823 F.3d at 523-24.
VACATED and REMANDED for resentencing.