United States v. Estrada-Mederos

In November 2011, defendant was arrested. While in state custody, he was told by a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent that ICE had placed “a hold” on him. If he posted bail, he would be seized by ICE and taken into immigration detention. He was in pretrial detention on state charges until October 2012, when he was convicted on a state obstruction of justice charge. He was detained by the state for 17 months, then taken into custody by ICE and detained while his immigration case was adjudicated. On September 19, 2013, the immigration judge ordered his removal. Defendant withdrew his appeal. On October 17, 2013, defendant was indicted for illegal reentry (8 U.S.C. 1326) and taken into federal criminal custody. He pled guilty to that charge, arguing that a below-guideline sentence would be appropriate, noting that he would not receive credit for the time served in immigration custody. The court imposed a within-guidelines sentence of 57 months. The Seventh Circuit remanded. The court should have addressed defendant’s argument that the court should have reduced his sentence because the delay in charging him effectively denied him the ability to receive credit toward his federal criminal sentence for the months he spent in state custody and in immigration custody. View "United States v. Estrada-Mederos" on Justia Law