Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Tenth Circuit Blog

Criminal Law

: Tenth Circuit Blog

Divided Panel Upholds Drug Conviction Enhancement in Reentry Case

By Shari Allison

United States v. Torres-Romero, ___ F.3d ___, 2008 WL 3843344 (10th Cir. 2008)Defendant was convicted of illegal entry after deportation. The COA held that his prior Colorado drug conviction was properly treated as a qualifying ?drug trafficking offense? for the 16 point guideline enhancement. The COA looked only at the state information, and the judgment that stated D had pleaded guilty to the information, to support its decision, even though it appeared that the information parroted the broad language of the statute that included both possession and trafficking acts. Because under 10th Cir. law and under Colorado law, a ?plea admits all material allegations already contained in the indictment,? this was sufficient to establish that D had been convicted of a qualifying drug trafficking offense...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on August 20, 2008 (boomark / email).