United States v. Bernal

Victor Bernal and Eduardo Berges were convicted of various crimes in connection with an attempt to export two endangered primates — an orangutan and a gorilla — from the United States to Mexico in violation of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. 1 The applicable sentencing range under the Sentencing Guidelines was twenty-four to thirty months for Bernal and fifteen to twenty-one months for Berges. 2 The probation officer noted in the presen-tence report that a downward departure from the guidelines range might be warranted in Bernal’s case under U.S.S.G. §…