United States v. Cardena-Garcia

This appeal calls upon us to consider the propriety of the cumulative application of sentencing enhancements. Appellants Teodulfo Cardena-Garcia and Cristobal Garcia-Suarez jointly1 appeal from the district court's enhancement of their sentences under both United States Sentencing Guidelines (U.S.S.G.) § 2L1.1(b)(5) and § 2L1.1(b)(6) (2001). We exercise jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.2 After illegally entering the United States from Mexico, and assisting others in doing so, Appellants purchased a van in Phoenix, Arizona, to transport seventeen illegal aliens to Chicago, Illinois. Including themselves, Appellants crammed nineteen people into a van designed to hold only seven passengers. En route to Chicago, with Mr. Cardena-Garcia driving, the van encountered poor road and weather conditions on Interstate 76, approximately thirty-three miles east of Sterling, Colorado. In an area with a posted seventy-five miles per hour speed limit the van was traveling an estimated ten to fifteen miles per hour when a semi truck traveling about sixty to sixty-five miles per hour crested a small hill and collided with it from the rear. Six of the illegal immigrants were killed and others were seriously injured.