United States v. Rosa-Borges

── United States v. Rosa-Borges ── Court: Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Date: May 01, 2026 Category: General United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit Nos. 24-1841, 24-1842 UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. REYNALDO ROSA-BORGES, Defendant, Appellant. APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO [Hon. Francisco A. Besosa, U.S. District Judge] Before Barron, Chief Judge, Montecalvo and Rikelman, Circuit Judges. Jessica E. Earl, with whom Rachel Brill, Federal Public Defender, District of Puerto Rico, Franco L. Pérez-Redondo, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Supervisor, Appellate Division, and Kevin E. Lerman, Assistant Federal Public Defender, were on brief, for appellant. Ricardo A. Imbert-Fernández, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney, and Juan Carlos Reyes-Ramos, Assistant United States Attorney, Chief, Appellate Division, were on brief, for appellee. May 1, 2026  RIKELMAN, Circuit Judge. These two sentencing appeals are back at our Court for a second time. See United States v. Rosa-Borges (Rosa I), 101 F.4th 66 (1st Cir. 2024). Once again, Reynaldo Rosa-Borges challenges both of his sentences on multiple grounds. In this chapter, we affirm Rosa's1 revocation sentence for violating the terms of his supervised release because he has waived his challenges to that sentence. We conclude, however, that the district court relied on a legally invalid rationale in sentencing Rosa for his new conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) and thus vacate and remand for resentencing in that case. I. BACKGROUND We recap the key facts, drawing "from the uncontested parts of the probation officer's presentence investigation report (PSR), the plea agreement, and the transcripts of the sentencing and revocation hearings." Rosa I, 101 F.4th at 68-69 (citation modified). In February 2015, Rosa pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). The district court ultimately sentenced him to five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. 1 We refer to the appellant as "Rosa," consistent with his brief and Spanish naming customs. - 2 -  After completing his prison sentence in May 2019, Rosa began serving his supervised release term. In November 2019, the probation officer notified the district court that Rosa had violated the terms of his supervised release by possessing controlled substances and altering a urine sample. The court "granted an action plan" and allowed his supervision to continue. In October 2020, the probation officer notified the court that Rosa had admitted to unlawful use of controlled substances, and the court modified the conditions of supervision "to include mental health treatment, to mitigate the risk behavior, and afford needed social services." On March 29, 2021, while Rosa was still on supervised release for his 2015 conviction, he ran into trouble again. Police officers patrolling a beach saw him and another individual sitting in the back of an SUV, under its open trunk door, with a firearm in reach inside the trunk. The officers detained both men and seized from the SUV a loaded 7.62 caliber Norinco "AK-type pistol" and other items, including an ammunition magazine containing 30 rounds of 7.62 caliber ammunition. The next day, March 30, officers conducted a search at the house where Rosa lived with his aunt. The search yielded two rifle mag