United States of America v. Jose Dominguez-Garcia

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
JOSE DOMINGUEZ-GARCIA,
Defendant - Appellant.
No. 13-50501
D.C. No. 3:13-cr-2135-LAB
MEMORANDUM *
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of California
Larry Burns, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted November 20, 2014
Pasadena, California
Before: SCHROEDER and NGUYEN, Circuit Judges, and ZOUHARY,**
District Judge.
FILED
DEC 17 2014
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 Honorable Jack Zouhary, United States District Judge, Northern
District of Ohio, sitting by designation.

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Defendant-Appellant Jose Dominguez-Garcia appeals his conviction for illegal
reentry in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. Dominguez-Garcia was previously removed
after a conviction for possessing methamphetamine for sale. We have jurisdiction under
28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742, and now affirm.
1. The district court did not err when it denied Dominguez-Garcia’s motion
to dismiss the indictment. Our case law establishes that California Health & Safety
Code § 11378 and similarly structured statutes are “divisible” within the meaning of
Descamps v. United States, ___U.S.___, 133 S. Ct. 2276 (2013), and therefore subject
to the modified categorical approach. See Padilla-Martinez v. Holder, ___F.3d___,
2014 WL 5421219, at *2 n.1 (9th Cir. Oct. 27, 2014) (concluding Calif. Health &
Safety Code § 11358 is divisible); see also United States v. Torre-Jiminez, ___F.3d___,
No. 13-50438 (Slip Opinion) (9th Cir. Nov. 7, 2014) (holding Calif. Health & Safety
Code § 11351 is divisible); United States v. Huitron-Rocha, ___F.3d___, No. 13-50306
(Slip Opinion) (9th Cir. Nov. 7, 2014) (holding Calif. Health & Safety Code § 13352(a)
is divisible); Coronado v. Holder, 759 F.3d 977 (9th Cir. 2014) (holding Calif. Health
& Safety Code § 11377(a) is divisible).
2. The complaint and abstract of judgment from the court of conviction were
sufficient for the district court to conclude Dominguez-Garcia’s prior conviction was
an aggravated felony. See United States v. Valdavinos-Torres, 704 F.3d 679, 687–88
2

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(9th Cir. 2012). Dominguez-Garcia’s abstract of judgment indicates he pled guilty to
count 2 of the complaint. “Where, as here, the abstract of judgment unambiguously
specifies that Defendant pleaded guilty to a specific count, we look to the facts alleged
in that count in the charging document.” Torre-Jiminez, No. 13-150306, 2014 WL
578675, at *5 (9th Cir. Nov. 7, 2014).
AFFIRMED.
3

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