United States v. Salas-Garcia, No. 11-2204 (10th Cir. 2012)
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Defendant-Appellant Jose Salas-Garcia filed a direct appeal to the Tenth Circuit following his conditional plea of guilty to one count of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine and one count of possessing more than 500 grams of cocaine with the intent to distribute. Prior to his plea, he moved to suppress drugs found in the vehicle he was driving as well as statements he made to police, arguing that he was illegally arrested and the evidence subsequently obtained was the fruit of a constitutional violation. The district court denied his motion to suppress. Defendant entered a conditional guilty plea on both counts. He then sought to withdraw his guilty plea because he did not fully understand the immigration consequences of his plea. He argued he had an absolute right to withdraw his plea because the district court had not yet accepted it. The district court denied his motion to withdraw his guilty plea and sentenced Defendant to concurrent terms of sixty months' imprisonment and a four-year term of supervised release. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of Defendant's motion to suppress and dismissed his appeal of the district court's denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
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