Whether the Fifth or Sixth Amendments prohibit conduct for which Ramirez was acquitted from being used to enhance his sentence for alien-smuggling

QUESTION PRESENTED FOR REVIEW Pedro Ramirez-Urbina agreed to guide Lopez-Vasquez through the desert in furtherance of Lopez-Vasquez’s attempt to enter the United States illegally. Despite Ramirez-Urbina’s best attempts to save him, Lopez-Vasquez died of unknown causes. The medical examiner who testified at trial said he could not conclude whether the trek through the desert contributed to the death. Despite being acquitted at trial of responsibility for the death, Ramirez-Urbina’s sentence for transporting Lopez-Vasquez was enhanced because a death resulted. This case presents two issues for review: Whether the Fifth or Sixth Amendments prohibit conduct for which Ramirez was an alien-smuggling offense that resulted in a death—to be used to enhance his sentence for smuggling aliens. and Whether the government proved the proper level of causation (strict, but-for, or proximate) by the proper standard (preponderance of or clear and convincing evidence) when it found that Ramirez-Urbina was legally responsible for Lopez-Vasquez’s death, the cause of which was unknown. i