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Sentence for Bribe-Taking Federal Agent Vacated
Ninth Circuit Says District Court Must Determine if 10-Year Prison Term Is to Stand in Light of Intervening Precedent Limiting Use of Sentencing Guidelines Commentary
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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FELIX CISNEROS JR. convict |
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday vacated the 10-year prison sentence imposed on a former special agent with Homeland Security Investigations who was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery of a federal public official, and money laundering.
A three-judge panel—comprised of Circuit Judges Gabriel P. Sanchez and Kim Wardlaw and Senior Circuit Judge Richard Paez—held, in a memorandum opinion, that District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner erroneously relied on commentary to a sentencing guideline relating to bribery rather than the text of the guideline, itself, without determining whether the text is “genuinely ambiguous.”
Such a determination is required under the Ninth Circuit’s May 31, 2023 decision in United States v. Castillo.
Sentencing of the defendant, Felix Cisneros Jr., took place on Nov. 21, 2021.
“[A]s the Government acknowledges, the district court did not have the benefit of Castillo at the time of Cisneros’s sentencing,” the judges noted, ordering a remand so that a determination can be made as to whether the sentencing guideline in issue, U.S.S.G. §2C1.1(b)(3), is ambiguous.
The judges rejected challenges to the conviction.
A grand jury on Aug. 25, 2021, returned a 30-count indictment against Cisneros who went on trial on April 26, 2022, with the jury finding him guilty on all counts. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office:
“Over an 18-month period that started in September 2015, Cisneros accepted cash, checks, private jet travel, luxury hotel stays, meals and other items of value from a person identified in court documents as “Individual 1,” who was associated with a criminal organization. Cisneros received approximately $100,000 in checks and gifts from ‘Individual 1’ in 2015 and 2016.”
Among other offenses of which he was found guilty was assisting two foreign nationals gain illegal entry into the United States and altering computer records.
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