United States of America v. Liang Li

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
LIANG LI,
Defendant-Appellant.
No. 18-10367
D.C. No. 1:18-cr-00001-2
MEMORANDUM*
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of the Northern Mariana Islands
Ramona V. Manglona, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted November 18, 2019**
Before: CANBY, TASHIMA, and CHRISTEN, Circuit Judges.
Liang Li appeals from the district court’s judgment and challenges the
sentence of two years’ probation and a fine of $4,000 imposed following his
guilty-plea conviction for making a false statement in a passport application, in
violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 1542. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
FILED
NOV 25 2019
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

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2 18-10367
§ 1291, and we affirm.
Li contends that, when calculating his Guideline range, the district court
improperly denied him a two-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility under
U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(a). The district court did not clearly err in finding that Li did not
accept responsibility for his offense. See United States v. Rodriguez, 851 F.3d 931,
949 (9th Cir. 2017). The record reflects that Li consistently failed to demonstrate
contrition and sought to minimize his conduct, which is inconsistent with accepting
responsibility. See id.; United States v. Scrivener, 189 F.3d 944, 948 (9th Cir.
1999).
AFFIRMED.

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