USA v. Israel Guerra Gonzalez, No. 08-13794 (11th Cir. 2008)
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
[DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 08-13794 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT December 18, 2008 THOMAS K. KAHN CLERK D. C. Docket No. 07-10044-CR-KMM UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus ISRAEL GUERRA GONZALEZ, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida _________________________ (December 18, 2008) Before BLACK, BARKETT and PRYOR, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Israel Guerra Gonzalez appeals his sentence of 24 months of imprisonment for conspiring to induce aliens to enter the United States and unauthorized entry into Cuban territorial waters. 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(v)(I); 50 U.S.C. § 192. Guerra Gonzalez challenges the three-level enhancement of his sentence for creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury. We affirm. We review de novo the application of the risk or death or serious injury enhancement to a sentence. United States v. Rodriguez-Lopez, 363 F.3d 1134, 1137 (11th Cir. 2004). The decision that Guerra Gonzales created a risk of death or serious injury to the aliens he transported is a factual finding that we review for clear error. Id. A district court may enhance a sentence by three levels if the defendant created, either intentionally or recklessly, a substantial risk of death or serious injury to the illegal aliens who he smuggled or transported and the total offense level is less than eighteen. United States Sentencing Guidelines § 2L1.1(b)(6) (Nov. 1997). The commentary to section 2L1.1(b)(6) emphasizes that [the] provision applies to an array of factual scenarios and should be applied flexibly[.] Rodriguez-Lopez, 363 F.3d at 1138; U.S.S.G. § 2L1.1(b)(6) cmt. n.5 ( [r]eckless conduct to which the adjustment from subsection (b)(6) applies includes a wide variety of conduct ). The district court did not clearly err when it found that Guerra Gonzalez created a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury. Guerra Gonzalez 2 attempted to smuggle twelve aliens from Cuba to the Florida keys on a boat equipped with only five life vests. The aliens would have in all likelihood died or suffered serious injuries if they had fallen overboard in the open seas without a flotation device. The application of the enhancement is consistent with the instruction to apply the enhancement flexibly. Guerra Gonzalez s sentence is AFFIRMED. 3
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
