Case: 22-50611 Document: 00516772067 Page: 1 Date Filed: 06/01/2023 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ____________ FILED June 1, 2023 No. 22-50611 Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk United States of America, Plaintiff—Appellee, versus Robinson Mendoza-Gomez, Defendant—Appellant. ______________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas USDC No. 4:22-CR-52-1 ______________________________ Before Wiener, Southwick, and Duncan, Circuit Judges. Jacques L. Wiener, Jr., Circuit Judge: Defendant-Appellant Robinson Mendoza-Gomez (“Mendoza”) entered a guilty plea to assaulting, resisting, or impeding various officers or employees, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1) and (b). Mendoza appeals the district court’s application of a two-level enhancement for obstruction of justice, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 (U.S. Sent’g Comm’n 2018). For the following reasons, we affirm Mendoza’s sentence. Case: 22-50611 Document: 00516772067 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/01/2023 No. 22-50611 I. Facts and Proceedings On or about December 14, 2021, U.S. Border Patrol agents observed approximately eleven suspected undocumented aliens walking north through the desert near Highway 90, at a location near Van Horn, Texas. Those agents responded to the area and detained several of the aliens, but a group of four escaped and began fleeing in another direction. A few minutes later, U.S. Border Patrol agent Valles made contact with the group and attempted to apprehend one of the suspected illegal aliens, later identified as Mendoza’s brother. As agent Valles was attempting to apprehend Mendoza’s brother, a second subject, later identified as Mendoza, stopped fleeing, turned around, and ran towards agent Valles. As Mendoza ran towards agent Valles, he yelled out “dejalo ir hijo de la chingada,” which translates to “let him go you son of a bitch.” Mendoza then tackled agent Valles and began striking him in the face and head, causing him to fall to the ground. While agent Valles was on the ground, Mendoza continued to strike him. Agent Valles then used his flashlight in self-defense, striking Mendoza twice in the head. As the attack continued, agent Valles dropped his flashlight to protect his head and face from the assault. Agent Valles then felt Mendoza’s hands drop towards the agent’s gun belt, causing him to roll towards his service weapon on his right side and to continue defending himself with his left hand. Agent Valles then pulled his service weapon and commanded Mendoza in Spanish to get off or he (Valles) would shoot Mendoza. At this time, two more U.S. Border Patrol agents arrived at the scene to assist agent Valles and were able to pull Mendoza off of him. Mendoza, however, ignored the commands from the agents and continued to resist. Eventually, Mendoza began to yell “ya ya” 2 Case: 22-50611 Document: 00516772067 Page: 3 Date Filed: 06/01/2023 No. 22-50611 which translates to “ok ok,” finally allowing agents to place him under arrest without further incident. The presentence report (“PSR”) calculated Mendoza’s base offense level as 10. The PSR applied a three-level increase pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2A2.4(b)(1) for an …
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