Opinion
No. 14-50703
02-27-2015
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee v. VICTOR MANUEL DOMINGUEZ-GODINEZ, Defendant-Appellant
Summary Calendar Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas
USDC No. 2:13-CR-890
Before DAVIS, CLEMENT, and COSTA, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:
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 R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR.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.
Victor Manuel Dominguez-Godinez appeals the within-guidelines, 46-month sentence imposed for his guilty plea conviction of illegal reentry. He contends that his sentence is substantively unreasonable and greater than necessary to satisfy the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors.
We review the substantive reasonableness of the sentence for an abuse of discretion. See Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007). Dominguez- Godinez's arguments fail to rebut the presumption of reasonableness that we apply to his within-guidelines sentence. See United States v. Cooks, 589 F.3d 173, 186 (5th Cir. 2009); United States v. Campos-Maldonado, 531 F.3d 337, 338 (5th Cir. 2008). The district court, who was "in a superior position to find facts and judge their import under § 3553(a)," was presented with Dominguez-Godinez's mitigating arguments but concluded that a sentence within the guidelines range was appropriate. Campos-Maldonado, 531 F.3d at 339. As Dominguez-Godinez concedes, his argument that the presumption of reasonableness should not be applied to his sentence because U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2 lacks an empirical basis is foreclosed. See United States v. Duarte, 569 F.3d 528, 530-31 (5th Cir. 2009); United States v. Mondragon-Santiago, 564 F.3d 357, 366-67 (5th Cir. 2009).
The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.