United States v. Santillan, No. 18-3182 (8th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseThe Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to strike the government's 21 U.S.C. 851 notice of sentencing enhancement alleged in the indictment. The court held that defendant's California conviction qualifies as a "felony drug offense" notwithstanding the fact that it was later redesignated as a misdemeanor. The court reasoned that, because defendant was convicted of a felony and sentenced under California law in 2008, his California conviction was "final" at the time of his federal drug offense in 2017. To the extent defendant raised other arguments as to why the California conviction may not serve as a predicate offense, the court held that those arguments were foreclosed by the court's reliance on the Ninth Circuit's decision in United States v. Diaz, 838 F.3d 968 (9th Cir. 2016).
Court Description: Shepherd, Author, with Gruender and Benton, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. Defendant's California offense was a felony under at the time of defendant's conviction and qualifies as a felony drug offense for sentencing purposes even though it was later redesignated as a misdemeanor; subsequent redesignation did not alter the fact that defendant's California conviction was final at the time of his federal drug offense.
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