Case: 19-13724 Date Filed: 04/24/2020 Page: 1 of 8 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 19-13724 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 5:19-cr-00027-JDW-PRL-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus JESUS GONZALEZ-VILLANUEVA, Defendant - Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida ________________________ (April 24, 2020) Before ROSENBAUM, BRANCH, and FAY, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Jesus Gonzalez-Villanueva appeals his sentence of 18 months in prison, an upward variance from the guideline range of 8 to 14 months, for reentering the Case: 19-13724 Date Filed: 04/24/2020 Page: 2 of 8 United States illegally. See 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a), (b)(2). He argues that the district court abused its discretion by failing to afford consideration to relevant factors that were due significant weight and imposing a substantively unreasonable sentence. He also contends that his sentence is unconstitutional because his maximum statutory sentence was increased based on the fact of a prior conviction that was not admitted by him or proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. After careful review, we affirm. I. In June 2019, Gonzalez-Villanueva, a native and citizen of Mexico, pled guilty to illegal reentry into the United States after being removed subsequent to a conviction for an aggravated felony, namely, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) and (b)(2). Gonzalez-Villanueva was removed from the United States under an administrative order in August 2011. His removal followed an April 2011 conviction of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in Florida. According to the presentence investigation report (“PSR”), law-enforcement officers responded to a residence about a domestic battery in progress. When they arrived, the victim reported that Gonzalez-Villanueva had hit her with a beer bottle, kicked her in the face, came at her with a knife and a machete, and used his truck to strike a vehicle she was in. Gonzalez-Villanueva was charged with both aggravated battery with a 2 Case: 19-13724 Date Filed: 04/24/2020 Page: 3 of 8 deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He pled nolo contendere to the battery count, and the assault count was withdrawn. After his August 2011 removal, Gonzalez-Villanueva reentered the United States illegally in September 2011 and was removed again three days later. Then, in 2019, he came to the attention of immigration authorities after he was issued a traffic citation in Florida for driving with a suspended or revoked license. The PSR calculated a recommended guideline imprisonment range of eight to fourteen months based on a total offense level of ten and a criminal-history category of II. The probation officer did not identify any factors that warranted a variance from the guideline range. The statutory maximum sentence for an illegal reentry offense is two years of imprisonment, see 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a), unless the defendant’s “removal was subsequent to a conviction for commission of an aggravated felony,” in which case the statutory maximum is twenty years, ...
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