United States v. Felipe Zepeda-Martinez

HALL, Senior Circuit Judge:

In United States v. Covian-Sandoval, 462 F.3d 1090 (9th Cir.2006), we determined that Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000) prevents a sentencing court from enhancing an alien’s sentence based upon a removal subsequent to a prior conviction unless that removal has been admitted by the defendant or proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Covian-Sandoval, 462 F.3d at 1097. We now must decide whether harmless error review applies to such an error when the issue has properly been raised below. In light of the Supreme Court’s…