United States v. Fernandez-Santos

── United States v. Fernandez-Santos ── Court: Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Date: May 15, 2026 Category: General United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 25-1090 UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. DIEGO FERNÁNDEZ-SANTOS, Defendant, Appellant. APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO [Hon. Francisco A. Besosa, U.S. District Judge] Before Gelpí, Thompson, and Rikelman, Circuit Judges. Samuel P. Carrion, Assistant Federal Public Defender, 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. Maarja T. Luhtaru, 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 15, 2026  RIKELMAN, Circuit Judge. Diego Fernández-Santos ("Fernández") appeals his sentence for violating the terms of his supervised release. He argues that the government failed to prove the critical fact that drove his sentence, leading the district court to commit a procedural error by looking outside the revocation record to justify the sentence. We agree with Fernández that a procedural error occurred and thus vacate and remand for resentencing. I. BACKGROUND In 2014, Fernández pleaded guilty to multiple federal criminal charges, including possession of a firearm (a compact pistol) by a prohibited person. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The district court sentenced him to over six years in prison for these crimes, followed by three years of supervised release. In February 2023, after Fernández completed his prison sentence but while he was still on supervised release, he was arrested again. At the time of his arrest, the police seized a rifle and ammunition from a bedroom closet in the house where Fernández was living, as well as a pistol and a gun magazine from a bag that an officer testified he saw Fernández discard outside the house. The officers did not see Fernández near the rifle nor is there any evidence in the record that he had ever handled it. Fernández's probation officer promptly notified the district court of the arrest and alleged that Fernández had - 2 - violated several conditions of his supervised release. One of those conditions prohibited Fernández from "possess[ing] a firearm, ammunition, destructive device, or any other dangerous weapon." After Fernández waived his preliminary revocation hearing, a magistrate judge found probable cause for the alleged violations and referred the case to the district court for a final revocation hearing. Meanwhile, the government charged Fernández with new criminal conduct based on the arrest -- possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), (o).1 As part of his defense against these new criminal charges, Fernández moved to suppress the evidence seized at his arrest. The district court granted his motion in part: It ordered the suppression of the pistol, and other items found in the discarded bag, but not the rifle the police found in a bedroom of the house. The trial on the new firearm charges against Fernández began in December 2024. At the trial, the government introduced an "expert in the