10th Adds to Defendant's Plain Error Burden When Challenging Priors on Appeal

U.S. v. Castellano-Barba, 2011 WL 3184203 (7/27/11) (Col.) (Published) - The 10th adds to its prior decision to clarify how it justifies requiring defendants to show plain error in categorizing prior convictions. The 10th notes it may take judicial notice of publicly filed records. So, a defendant arguing plain error should submit public documents proving her/his contention. This requirement does not violate the rule that the government has the burden to prove enhancements because the defendant has the burden to prove her/his position when alleging plain error on appeal. In this case, the defendant did not proffer any record showing that his California conviction was for transportation of marijuana for personal use rather than drug trafficking. So the defendant gets a 16-level bump.