Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Before
Torruella, Selya, and Kayatta,
Circuit Judges.
Rivera and eighteen others were indicted and charged with violating
federal law by participating in a broad conspiracy to import heroin
into Puerto Rico.
The
Background
- 2 -
term
of
imprisonment
on
the
lower
end
of
the
applicable
imprisonment.
The
agreement
warned
Torres-Rivera,
the district court was neither party to nor bound by the agreement,
and that the sentencing decision was ultimately within the district
court's discretion.1
During
the
change
of
plea
hearing,
the
government
- 3 -
drug
proceeds
Col[o]mbia.
from
At
the
government's
sentencing,
certification
Puerto
Rico
into
court
accepted
the
Torres-Rivera
qualified
for
district
that
sentence
defendant
meets
if
the
five
court
specified
finds
at
criteria,
sentencing
that
the
one
that
the
being
18 U.S.C. 3553(f)(4).
In accepting the
This
to
impose
above-guidelines
sentence
in
part
by
This enhancement,
- 4 -
U.S.S.G. 3B1.1(c).
this
application
note,
the
court
found
that
for
the
reasons
[the
district
court]
mentioned
- 5 -
The district
appeal followed.
II.
Discussion
Cir. 2014) (citing Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007)).
Under this standard, we first consider whether the court committed
any procedural error "such as failing to consider appropriate
sentencing factors, predicating a sentence on clearly erroneous
facts, or neglecting to explain the rationale for a variant
sentence adequately."
F.3d 171, 176 (1st Cir. 2014) (citing United States v. Martin, 520
F.3d 87, 92 (1st Cir. 2008)).
we
review
to
ensure
that
district
court
imposed
United
States v. Daz-Bermdez, 778 F.3d 309, 313 (1st Cir. 2015) (quoting
Martin, 520 F.3d at 96).
- 6 -
note implies that a court may apply the 3B1.1 enhancement even
where the government concededly lacks evidence to demonstrate the
defendant
is
eligible
for
it,
undermining
this
court's
United States v.
Torres-
Only
supervisor
of
the
conspiracy,
the
court
accepted
the
- 7 -
And, to the
extent
the
district
court's
finding
was
that
Torres-Rivera
activities"
of
the
criminal
enterprise,
this
court
has
repeatedly held that such finding "is not a valid basis for an
offense
level
enhancement
under
3B1.1."
United
States
v.
Prange, 771 F.3d 17, 35 (1st Cir. 2014); see, e.g., United States
v. Ramos-Paulino, 488 F.3d 459, 464 (1st Cir. 2007) (noting that
the application note itself "makes it pellucid that the management
of criminal activities (as opposed to the management of criminal
actors) may ground an upward departure but not an upward role-inthe-offense adjustment").
But the district court opted for a departure, not an
enhancement.
applying
de
review,
"the
sentencing
court
erred
in
Torres-Rivera insists
the
record
provides
ample
support
for
the
Torres-
- 8 -
the
enterprise.
manager
on
activities
of
other
members
of
the
criminal
of
[Marn-Echeverri,
the
leader
of
the
importantly,
the
district
court
observed
that
court
also
observed
that
Torres-Rivera
managed
The
or
In response to
- 9 -
trafficking
events
at
issue
was
erroneous
because
"the
In other
involvement,
but
that
its
proof
consisted
of
That circumstantial
- 10 -
at
35
(noting
that
court's
finding
that
defendant
by
the
Commission.
The
language
of
Application
err.
Finally, Torres-Rivera argues that even if the district
court committed no procedural error, his sentence is substantively
unreasonable.
Torres-
- 11 -
"[T]he linchpin of a
It considered the
explanation
and
the
resulting
sentence
are
Torres-
But
- 12 -
United
sentencing,
the
district
court
noted
that
it
Torres-Rivera's
sentence
was
- 13 -
neither