United States v. Rivera-Ruiz, No. 19-1992 (1st Cir. 2022)
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The First Circuit vacated Appellant's upwardly variant sentence of sixty months imposed in connection with his plea of guilty to one count of racketeering, holding that the sentencing court procedurally erred by basing Appellant's variant sentence, in part, upon certain evidence that lacked any indicia of reliability.
Appellant, a former police officer with the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD), was convicted for his involvement with a corrupt group of PRPD officers. On appeal, Appellant challenged, among other things, the procedural reasonableness of his sentence, contending that the district court erred by relying upon his record of unadjudicated administrative complaints filed against Appellant during his career as an officer. The First Circuit agreed and vacated the sentence, holding that the district court's reliance upon Defendant's record of administrative complaints was insufficiently supported, and the error was not harmless.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on August 10, 2022.
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