Eleventh Circuit addresses Crawford and Shepard issues

The Eleventh Circuit today in US v. Cantellano, No. 05-11143 (11th Cir. Nov. 15, 2005) (available here), covered a lot of notable sentencing ground in a short space.  Here is the decision’s opening paragraph, which detail the scope of the ruling and its outcome:

This appeal raises four issues, the first three of which are issues of first impression in this Circuit: (1) whether, under Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), a warrant of deportation is testimonial evidence subject to confrontation at trial; (2) whether, under Crawford, a defendant has a right to confrontation at sentencing; (3) whether, under Shepard v. United States, 125 S. Ct. 1254 (2005), a sentencing court may use documents other than court records to identify a defendant with a conviction; and (4) whether a sentencing court may use prior convictions to enhance a sentence, where the prior convictions were neither charged in the indictment nor proved to the jury.  Jose Efrain Ibarra Cantellano was convicted of illegal reentry of a deported alien, and based on his prior conviction of an aggravated felony, he was sentenced to 100 months of imprisonment under section 1326(b)(2) of Title 8 of the U.S. Code. Cantellano challenges both his conviction and sentence.  We affirm.

UPDATE: Mike at Crime & Federalism explores Cantellano here.