Opinion
2:14-cr-00151-JAD-PAL
07-13-2016
United States of America, Plaintiff v. Arturo Salgado-Castro, Defendant
Order Denying Motion to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence [ECF No. 27]
Pro se federal prison inmate Arturo Salgado-Castro brings this § 2255 motion to vacate his 46-month sentence in light of the United States Supreme Court's decision last term in Johnson v. United States, which held the Armed Career Criminal Act's (ACCA's) residual clause void for vagueness. In September 2014, Salgado-Castro pleaded guilty to being a deported alien found unlawfully in the United States and, in January 2015, he was sentenced to 46 months in prison. Salgado-Castro argues that he is entitled to a reduced sentence under Johnson because illegal reentry is not a crime of violence.
ECF No. 27; Johnson v. United States,___U.S.___, 135 S.Ct. 2251, 2258 (2015).
ECF No. 25.
ECF No. 27.
Johnson does not provide Salgado-Castro any relief because he was not sentenced as an armed career offender under the ACCA, let alone under the Act's residual clause invalidated in Johnson. If Salgado-Castro had been sentenced under the ACCA, he would have been subjected to a mandatory minimum term of fifteen years' imprisonment. Both Salgado-Castro's 46-month sentence and the offense of conviction belie his claim that he was adjudicated an armed career criminal under the ACCA's residual clause, and Johnson is therefore inapplicable.
The ACCA applies only to people who violate 18 U.S.C. § 924(g) and have three prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses. Salgado-Castro was convicted under 8 U.S.C. § 1326, not 18 U.S.C. § 924(g). --------
Conclusion
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Salgado-Castro's motion to vacate sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 in light of Johnson v. United States [ECF No. 27] is DENIED.
Dated this 13th day of July, 2016.
/s/_________
Jennifer A. Dorsey
United States District Judge