United States of America v. Juan Muanuel Cota-Chavez

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
JUAN MUANUEL COTA-CHAVEZ,
Defendant-Appellant.
No. 14-50407
D.C. No. 3:14-cr-00031-DMS
MEMORANDUM*
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of California
Dana M. Sabraw, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted August 25, 2015**
Before: McKEOWN, CLIFTON, and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges.
Juan Muanuel Cota-Chavez appeals from the district court’s judgment and
challenges the 48-month sentence imposed following his guilty-plea conviction for
importation of methamphetamine and heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952 and
FILED
SEP 06 2016
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
* 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).

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960. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we vacate and remand for
resentencing.
Cota-Chavez argues that the district court erred in denying a minor role
reduction to his base offense level under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2(b). After Cota-Chavez
was sentenced, the United States Sentencing Commission issued Amendment 794
(“the Amendment”), which amended the commentary to the minor role Guideline.
The Amendment is retroactive to cases pending on direct appeal. See United States
v. Quintero-Leyva, 823 F.3d 519, 523 (9th Cir. 2016).
Among other things, the Amendment added a non-exhaustive list of factors
that a court “should consider” in determining whether to apply a minor role
reduction. See U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2 cmt. n.3(C) (2015). Because we cannot
definitively determine from the record whether the district court considered all of
those factors in determining whether Cota-Chavez was entitled to a minor role
adjustment, we vacate Cota-Chavez’s sentence and remand for resentencing under
the Amendment. See Quintero-Leyva, 823 F.3d at 523-24.
VACATED and REMANDED for resentencing.
14-50407 2

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