United States v. Herrera-Alvarez, No. 12-41425 (5th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseDefendant challenged his sentence after pleading guilty to illegal reentry. The court concluded that an offense defined by Louisiana Revised Statutes section 14:34, as narrowed pursuant to the modified categorical approach, qualifies as a crime of violence under U.S.S.G. 2L1.2 because it has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of force against the person of another. Because section 14:34 criminalizes aggravated batteries committed by administering poison, which does not necessarily entail the destructive or violent use of physical force, the statute as a whole does not categorically qualify as a crime of violence. In this case, the court may narrow the statute of conviction under the modified categorical approach to exclude the possibility that defendant was convicted of aggravated battery committed by means of poisoning. The court concluded that the offense for which defendant was convicted necessarily had as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of force against the person of another and therefore qualifies as a crime of violence under section 2L1.2. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
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