EDWARD C. PRADO, Circuit Judge:
Defendant-Appellant Gerardo Hernandez-Rodriguez appeals the district court's application of a sixteen-level "crime of violence" sentencing enhancement based on his prior Louisiana aggravated battery conviction. Addressing the question we left open in United States v. Herrera-Alvarez, 753 F.3d 132, 142 n. 5 (5th Cir. 2014), we conclude that the least culpable means of committing aggravated battery under Louisiana law involves conduct beyond the scope of the generic, contemporary meaning of "aggravated assault." We therefore vacate Hernandez-Rodriguez's sentence and remand for resentencing.
In November 2013, Hernandez-Rodriguez pleaded guilty to one count of illegal reentry. The Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) assessed a base offense level of eight, then added a sixteen-level sentence enhancement on the ground that Hernandez-Rodriguez's 2006 Louisiana conviction for aggravated battery qualified as a crime of violence within the meaning of U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual (U.S.S.G.) § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii).
Hernandez-Rodriguez objected to the sixteen-level enhancement, arguing that his prior Louisiana conviction for aggravated battery did not constitute a crime of violence under the Guidelines. The district court overruled Hernandez-Rodriguez's objection, adopted the PSR, and assessed a within-Guidelines sentence of forty-one months of imprisonment.
The district court had jurisdiction over the original criminal proceedings pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3231. We have jurisdiction to review the district court's judgment and sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a).
The only issue presented in this appeal is whether Hernandez-Rodriguez's Louisiana aggravated battery conviction constitutes a crime of violence under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii). As Hernandez-Rodriguez preserved error, we review this question of law de novo. See United States v. Mungia-Portillo, 484 F.3d 813, 815 (5th Cir.2007).
Section 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii) mandates a sixteen-level increase to a defendant's base offense level when the defendant previously has been deported following "a conviction for a felony that is . . . a crime of violence." The commentary to the Guidelines, in turn, defines "crime of violence" as (1) any offense in a list of enumerated offenses, including "aggravated assault," or (2) "any other offense under federal, state, or local law that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another." U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2 cmt. n. 1(B)(iii).
"This court uses different tests when analyzing whether a particular offense amounts to a [crime of violence], and the test used depends on whether the offense is an enumerated one or has physical force as an element." United States v. Moreno-Florean, 542 F.3d 445, 449 (5th Cir.2008). We apply a categorical approach derived from Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990), to determine whether the offense of conviction contains as an element the use of force.
In comparison, we apply a "common sense" approach that looks to the "generic, contemporary meaning" of an offense listed in § 2L1.2 to assess whether the offense of conviction amounts to that enumerated offense.
Under both the categorical and common sense approaches, "if the statute of conviction contains a series of disjunctive elements, this court may look beyond the statute to certain records made or used in adjudicating guilt to determine which subpart of the statute formed the basis of the conviction." Moreno-Florean, 542 F.3d at 449. Qualifying records "are `generally limited to . . . the charging document, written plea agreement, transcript of plea colloquy, and any explicit factual finding by the trial judge to which the defendant assented.'" Herrera-Alvarez, 753 F.3d at 138 (quoting Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 16, 125 S.Ct. 1254, 161 L.Ed.2d 205 (2005)). If the statute of conviction cannot be narrowed using such Shepard-compliant documents, we must determine whether the "least culpable act constituting a violation of that statute" necessarily entails the use of force or constitutes the enumerated offense. United States v. Gonzalez-Ramirez, 477 F.3d 310, 315-16 (5th Cir.2007).
The Louisiana statute under which Hernandez-Rodriguez was convicted defines aggravated battery as "a battery committed with a dangerous weapon." La.Rev. Stat. § 14:34. The criminal code, in turn, defines battery as either (1) "the intentional use of force or violence upon the person of another" or (2) "the intentional administration of a poison or other noxious liquid or substance to another." Id. § 14:33. The term "`dangerous weapon' includes any gas, liquid or other substance or instrumentality, which, in the manner used, is calculated or likely to produce death or great bodily harm." Id. § 14:2(A)(3).
In Herrera-Alvarez, this Court held that a Louisiana conviction for aggravated battery qualifies as a crime of violence under the force offense prong of § 2L1.2, but only if the offense can be narrowed to exclude the poison alternative. See 753 F.3d at 139, 141. We first observed that § 14:34 is disjunctive because it "in effect criminalizes two distinct offenses—an aggravated battery committed by the intentional administration of poison or other noxious liquid or substance and an aggravated battery committed by the intentional use of force or violence upon the person of another." Id. at 140. Next, we reasoned that because the "force" required to make an offense a crime of violence under the force offense prong of § 2L1.2 is "synonymous with destructive or violent force," id. at 138 (quoting United States v. Dominguez, 479 F.3d 345, 348 (5th Cir.2007)) (internal quotation marks omitted), the administration of poison "does not necessarily entail the use of physical force" contemplated by § 2L1.2, id. at 139. As a result, we concluded that if § 14:34 could not be narrowed to exclude the possibility of an aggravated battery committed with poison, then a conviction for that offense could not qualify for the enhancement as a force offense. See id. at 139, 141. Because the
The parties here agree that there are no Shepard-compliant documents to identify the subpart of the statute that formed the basis of Hernandez-Rodriguez's conviction. Accordingly, unlike in Herrera-Alvarez, we cannot exclude the possibility that Hernandez-Rodriguez's conviction was based on the administration-of-poison alternative within § 14:34—"the least culpable act" to violate the statute, Gonzalez-Ramirez, 477 F.3d at 316—and Hernandez-Rodriguez's conviction thus cannot satisfy the force offense prong.
This does not end our inquiry, however. We must now turn to the question we left open in Herrera-Alvarez and decide, under the common sense approach, whether the "least culpable act constituting a violation" of § 14:34 falls outside of the generic, contemporary meaning of aggravated assault.
Our "primary source" for the ordinary meaning of this offense is the Model Penal Code, United States v. Torres-Diaz, 438 F.3d 529, 536 (5th Cir.2006), which provides:
A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he:
Model Penal Code § 211.1(2). The Code further defines "deadly weapon" as "any firearm or other weapon, device, instrument, material or substance, whether animate or inanimate, which in the manner it is used or is intended to be used is known to be capable of producing death or serious bodily injury." Id. § 210.0(4). Looking also to other approved sources, we have noted that "[t]he generic, contemporary meaning of aggravated assault is an assault carried out under certain aggravating circumstances," and that "[a]ssault, in turn, requires proof that the defendant either caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause bodily injury or offensive contact to another person." Esparza-Perez, 681 F.3d at 231 (citing, inter alia, Black's Law Dictionary 130 (9th ed.2009); Wayne R. LaFave, 2 Substantive Criminal Law § 16.3 (2d ed.2014)).
Hernandez-Rodriguez contends that the Louisiana statute is broader than the generic, contemporary definition of aggravated assault for two principal reasons. First, the Louisiana offense is one of general intent, while the generic offense of aggravated assault requires a showing of specific intent. Second, the criminal intent under Louisiana law attaches to the defendant's conduct (i.e., the intentional use of force or administration of poison) rather than to the result of that conduct (i.e., causing bodily injury); the opposite is true of the generic offense.
The Government counters that the elements of an aggravated battery under § 14:34 are a "[c]ategorical [m]atch" to the elements of a generic aggravated assault. In the Government's view, the distinction between general and specific intent is immaterial
After comparing the statutes and reviewing Louisiana and Fifth Circuit case law, we are persuaded that the offenses are meaningfully different, and, therefore, a conviction for the least culpable violation of § 14:33 does not constitute the enumerated offense of aggravated assault. As Hernandez-Rodriguez points out, the Louisiana offense of aggravated battery is a general intent offense. State v. Howard, 94-0023 (La.6/3/94); 638 So.2d 216, 217. To establish general intent, the State need only make "a showing that `the offender, in the ordinary course of human experience, must have adverted to the prescribed criminal consequences as reasonably certain to result from his act or failure to act.'" Id. (quoting La.Rev.Stat. § 14:10(2)). As a result, the "criminal intent necessary to sustain a conviction is shown by the very doing of the acts which have been declared criminal." Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Moreover, the requisite intent relates only to the defendant's conduct: "The crime requires neither the infliction of serious bodily harm nor the intent to inflict serious injury." Id.
In contrast, the generic, contemporary definition of aggravated assault, exemplified in the Model Penal Code, requires specific intent to cause bodily injury. Model Penal Code § 211.1(2). Focusing on the "deadly weapon" alternative—the analogue to the Louisiana statute's poison offense—the defendant must either "attempt to cause" or "purposely or knowingly cause" bodily injury. Id. With regard to the result of one's conduct, "purposely" signifies that it is the defendant's "conscious object" to cause that result, and "knowingly" signifies that the defendant "is aware that it is practically certain that his conduct will cause" that result. Id. § 2.02(2)(a)-(b). Attempt, in turn, requires the same "kind of culpability otherwise required for the commission of the crime," and, "when causing a particular result is an element of the crime," the defendant must act "with the purpose of causing or with the belief that it will cause such result." Id. § 5.01(1)(b).
The pertinent distinctions between the statutes are made plain in State v. Smith, 39,698 (La.App. 2 Cir. 6/29/05); 907 So.2d 192. In Smith, the defendant challenged the sufficiency of the evidence to support his aggravated battery conviction for spraying the victim with chemicals from a crop-dusting plane. 907 So.2d at 196. The incident occurred when the defendant was defoliating a cotton field adjacent to the victim's property using several caustic chemicals. Id. at 194. The victim testified that the defendant intentionally sprayed him, citing the defendant's unusual flight path; the defendant maintained that any chemical contact with the victim was accidental due to drift. Id. As a result of the exposure, the victim experienced skin irritation, a headache, and nausea, and a state witness testified that "a `very large dose' [of the chemicals] could kill a person." Id. The court of appeals upheld the verdict.
On this evidence, the Model Penal Code would not permit a conviction for aggravated assault under the "deadly weapon" prong of § 211.1(2). There is no indication in Smith that the defendant was shown to have the "conscious object" to cause bodily injury to the victim or that he was aware of a "practical[] certain[ty]" that it would result. See Model Penal Code §§ 2.02(2), 211.1(2). In fact, the State secured a conviction through proof only that (1) the defendant intentionally administered a noxious substance to the victim and (2) the substance, in the manner used, was likely to produce death or great bodily harm. See Smith, 907 So.2d at 198.
The Government responds that intent to cause bodily injury may be inferred from the use of a "dangerous weapon" as Louisiana defines the term. Because the instrumentality, "in the manner used," must be "calculated or likely to produce death or great bodily harm," La.Rev.Stat. § 14:2(A)(3), proof of the offense of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon necessarily entails proof of intent to cause bodily injury—the same intent that is required to commit generic aggravated assault. While this argument has intuitive appeal, we ultimately find it unavailing. As Smith illustrates, mere evidence that a substance is noxious, coupled with actual injury resulting from the substance, suffices to prove under Louisiana law that an aggravated assault was committed with a dangerous weapon; no showing is required that the defendant specifically intended to cause that result. See 907 So.2d at 198. Moreover, contrary to the Government's position, the definition of "deadly weapon" in the Model Penal Code is not functionally equivalent to its counterpart in the Louisiana statute. First, the Model Penal Code requires that the instrumentality be "known to be capable of producing death or serious bodily injury," Model Penal Code § 210.0(4) (emphasis added), rather than only "calculated or likely" to do so, La.Rev.Stat. § 14:2(A)(3). Second, because the Model Penal Code prescribes a culpable mental state of "purposely" or "knowingly" to the underlying offense, these heightened levels of intent apply to every element of the offense—including the use of a deadly weapon, see Model Penal Code §§ 2.02(4), 211.1(2)(b).
Acknowledging that the statutes "are not identical," the Government next asserts that the variations are so "minor" that they do not "remove the Louisiana statute from the generic, contemporary meaning of aggravated assault." The strongest authority for the Government on this point seems to be United States v. Sanchez-Ruedas, 452 F.3d 409 (5th Cir. 2006). In that case, we found that a conviction for assault with a deadly weapon under California Penal Code § 245(a)(1) constituted a conviction for generic aggravated assault, notwithstanding several discrepancies
Because the least culpable means of violating the Louisiana aggravated battery statute falls outside of the generic definition of aggravated assault, the statute "encompasses prohibited behavior that is not within the plain, ordinary meaning of the enumerated offense," and Hernandez-Rodriguez's conviction "is not a crime of violence as a matter of law." See Esparza-Perez, 681 F.3d at 230.
For the foregoing reasons, we VACATE Hernandez-Rodriguez's sentence and REMAND to the district court for resentencing.
By contrast, the least culpable act constituting a violation of Louisiana's aggravated battery statute is the non-violent administration of a noxious substance which, in the manner used, is likely to produce great bodily harm. Unlike the obvious consequences of, say, swinging a knife at another person, administering a noxious substance may have chemical effects that are likely to produce harm to the victim but are not predicted or understood by the perpetrator. Accordingly, the difference between Louisiana's general intent requirement and the Model Penal Code's specific intent requirement is not "subtle." Cf. Sanchez-Ruedas, 452 F.3d at 414. Rather, committing the criminal act is further removed from its potential consequences, and there is a non-negligible possibility—as illustrated by Smith—that an individual who intends only to commit the act and not to cause grievous injury will be convicted under the Louisiana statute.