Filed: Feb. 28, 2013
Latest Update: Feb. 12, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 12-4726 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. LUIS ALBERTO NAPAN, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. T. S. Ellis, III, Senior District Judge. (1:10-cr-00384-TSE-1) Submitted: January 24, 2013 Decided: February 28, 2013 Before NIEMEYER, WYNN, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Michael S. Nachmano
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 12-4726 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. LUIS ALBERTO NAPAN, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. T. S. Ellis, III, Senior District Judge. (1:10-cr-00384-TSE-1) Submitted: January 24, 2013 Decided: February 28, 2013 Before NIEMEYER, WYNN, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Michael S. Nachmanof..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 12-4726
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
LUIS ALBERTO NAPAN,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Alexandria. T. S. Ellis, III, Senior
District Judge. (1:10-cr-00384-TSE-1)
Submitted: January 24, 2013 Decided: February 28, 2013
Before NIEMEYER, WYNN, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Michael S. Nachmanoff, Federal Public Defender, Frances H.
Pratt, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Alexandria, Virginia,
for Appellant. Neil MacBride, United States Attorney, Andrew
Peterson, Assistant United States Attorney, Alexandria,
Virginia, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Luis Alberto Napan was convicted, following a jury
trial, of conspiring to import a controlled substance, in
violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952, 960(a)(1), 963 (2006). The
district court initially sentenced Napan to twenty-seven months’
imprisonment. Napan appealed his sentence, and we concluded
that the district court failed to make the findings necessary to
support a Guidelines enhancement for obstruction of justice
under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual (“USSG”) § 3C1.1 (2010),
as required by United States v. Perez,
661 F.3d 189 (4th Cir.
2011). We therefore vacated and remanded for resentencing in
light of Perez. United States v. Napan, 484 F. App’x 780, 781-
82 (4th Cir. 2012) (No. 11-4710).
At resentencing, the district court made additional
factual findings on the record, specifically finding that three
of the original four false statements were both material to
suppression and made with the willful intent to deceive. The
court again imposed the obstruction of justice enhancement and
sentenced Napan to twenty-seven months’ imprisonment. Napan
appeals from the amended judgment, arguing that the district
court erred in concluding that Napan’s false testimony was
willfully made with the intent to deceive. For the reasons that
follow, we affirm.
2
We review the district court’s “factual findings for
clear error and [its] legal conclusions de novo.” United States
v. Llamas,
599 F.3d 381, 387 (4th Cir. 2010). Under the clear
error standard, “we will not reverse a lower court’s finding of
fact simply because we would have decided the case differently.”
United States v. Manigan,
592 F.3d 621, 631 (4th Cir. 2010)
(internal quotation marks omitted). Rather, “we can find clear
error only if, on the entire evidence, we are left with the
definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.”
Id. (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted).
To impose a USSG § 3C1.1 enhancement for obstruction
of justice based on perjury, “the sentencing court must find
that the defendant (1) gave false testimony; (2) concerning a
material matter; (3) with willful intent to deceive.”
Perez,
661 F.3d at 192 (internal quotation marks omitted). In
assessing whether a defendant had the willful intent to deceive,
the court must satisfy itself that the defendant made false
statements “with the willful intent to provide false testimony,
rather than as a result of confusion, mistake, or faulty
memory.” United States v. Dunnigan,
507 U.S. 87, 95 (1993),
abrogated on other grounds by United States v. Wells,
519 U.S.
482 (1997); see USSG § 3C1.1 cmt. n.2. The court’s findings
need only be supported by a preponderance of the evidence. See
United States v. Sun,
278 F.3d 302, 314 (4th Cir. 2002).
3
Our review of the record indicates that the district
court’s findings of willful intent to deceive are not clearly
erroneous and provide adequate support for the obstruction of
justice enhancement. Accordingly, we affirm the district
court’s amended judgment. We dispense with oral argument
because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented
in the materials before this court and argument would not aid
the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
4