Free Response to Motion - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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PAUL K. CHARLTON United States Attorney District of Arizona LISA JENNIS SETTEL Assistant U.S. Attorney Two Renaissance Square 40 North Central, Suite 1200 Phoenix, Arizona 85004-4408 Telephone (602) 514-7500 [email protected]

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA United States of America, CR-03-1097-PHX-ROS Plaintiff, v. Francis Luna-Lara, Defendant. UNITED STATES' RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT LUNA-LARA'S MOTION TO RECONSIDER PLEA AGREEMENT

Plaintiff, United States of America, by and through its attorneys, PAUL K.

15 CHARLTON, United States Attorney for the District of Arizona, and Lisa Jennis Settel, 16 Assistant United States Attorney, respectfully respond to defendant's motion for 17 reconsideration and concurs with his request that the court accept the plea agreement in this 18 matter. 19 In addition to the reasons set forth in defendant's motion for reconsideration, the court 20 should also consider that Jose Medina-Pineda, a co-defendant in this matter was defendant 21 Luna-Lara's boss. Medina-Pineda was charged in the same indictment as Luna-Lara and 22 with the same charges. The court accepted Medina-Pineda's plea to Conspiracy to Harbor 23 Illegal Aliens pursuant to 8 U.S.C. Section 1324(a)(1)(A)(v)(I) and sentenced him to 80 24 months. The facts set for Medina-Pineda's Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) are 25 identical to the facts in Luna-Lara's PSR. In fact, all four defendants were members of the 26 Conspiracy to Take Hostages and the Conspiracy to Harbor Aliens. However, each 27 defendant had a specific role. Luna-Lara was a guard and made the decision to sexually 28 assault some of his hostages. That behavior was not condoned by his boss. On the other

Case 2:03-cr-01097-ROS

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1 hand, Luna-Lara was not the boss and Medina-Pineda was in charge of the stash house. The 2 plea agreement takes into consideration Luna-Lara's heinous conduct during the criminal 3 conspiracies and his plea agreement requires a much longer sentence than that of Medina4 Pineda. 5 In conclusion, since Medina-Pineda was able to plea and be sentenced to a charge

6 other than hostage taking so should Luna-Lara. A sentencing range of 20-25 years is 7 significant, it takes Luna-Lara's conduct as a guard, which was more akin to 18 U.S.C. 8 Section 924(c) than hostage taking, into consideration, 9 While the Guidelines indicate that the court should consider relevant conduct under

10 U.S.S.G. Section 1B1.3 when sentencing this defendant, it is not necessary to consider the 11 guideline sentence for any possible violation that may be charged based on relevant conduct. 12 It is merely the conduct that the court should consider not a potential charge or the potential 13 sentence for that charge. The defendant has not pled guilty to any hostage taking charges and 14 all remaining charges will be dismissed by the government at sentencing 15 16 17 18 s/ Lisa J. Settel 19 20 21 22 I hereby certify that on the 3rd day of May, 2006, I electronically 23 transmitted the attached document to the Clerk's Office using the CM/ECF System for filing and transmittal of a Notice of Electronic Filing to the 24 following CM/ECF registrants: Robert McWhirter and Michael Reeves 25 26 27 28 2 LISA JENNIS SETTEL Assistant U.S. Attorney PAUL K. CHARLTON United States Attorney District of Arizona Respectfully submitted this 3rd day of May, 2006.

Case 2:03-cr-01097-ROS

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