United States v. Rosa-Borges, No. 22-1195 (1st Cir. 2024)
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The case involves Reynaldo Rosa-Borges, who was sentenced to 72 months for unlawful firearm possession and 36 months for violating the terms of his supervised release from a previous conviction. The firearm and ammunition were discovered during two separate incidents. The first incident occurred when Rosa-Borges was found with a firearm during a police patrol at a beach. The second incident happened the following day when police searched Rosa-Borges' residence and found additional ammunition. Rosa-Borges' brother, Naim, claimed that the ammunition belonged to Rosa-Borges.
In the lower courts, Rosa-Borges pleaded guilty to the charges. However, he disputed the claim that he possessed the additional 100 rounds of ammunition found at his residence, arguing that the information was derived from unreliable hearsay from his brother, who had a motive to avoid his own criminal liability. Despite these objections, the district court sentenced Rosa-Borges to a total of 108 months in prison.
On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit vacated and remanded the case for resentencing. The appellate court found that the district court had relied on unreliable hearsay evidence from Rosa-Borges' brother to extend Rosa-Borges' sentence. The court concluded that the brother's statement was self-serving and inconsistent with the government's version of events, and therefore, it was an abuse of discretion for the district court to find the statement reliable. The court did not address Rosa-Borges' argument that his limited confrontation right under Rule 32.1(b)(2)(C) was violated.
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