United States v. Jess Dipina A/K/A Gustavo Gonsalez

230 F.3d 477, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 27325, 2000 WL 1610597
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedNovember 1, 2000
Docket00-1141
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 230 F.3d 477 (United States v. Jess Dipina A/K/A Gustavo Gonsalez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Jess Dipina A/K/A Gustavo Gonsalez, 230 F.3d 477, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 27325, 2000 WL 1610597 (1st Cir. 2000).

Opinion

BOWNES, Senior Circuit Judge.

This case returns to us after a remand to the district court for further consideration of the sentencing ramifications of defendant-appellant Jesús DiPinas juvenile criminal dispositions. See United States v. DiPina, 178 F.3d 68 (1st Cir.1999). On remand, the district court determined that DiPina’s admission of sufficient facts on juvenile heroin charges should count toward his criminal history under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, and that he was therefore ineligible for the safety valve provision. Accordingly, the court reimposed its previous sentence. We affirm.

I.

On November 22, 1994, DiPina pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than one hundred grams of heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B) (1994). He entered a plea agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty to the charge in exchange for the government’s promise to recommend that the district court impose the shortest term of imprisonment under the sentencing guidelines. The government also promised to recommend that DiPina receive the benefits of the “safety valve” provision, 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f), U.S.S.G. § 5C1.1 (1997), which would exempt him from the mandatory minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment. The safety valve would only apply, however’, if DiPina did not have more than one criminal history point.

The Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) prepared by the Probation Department described DiPina’s criminal record as including three juvenile dispositions, all in the Rhode Island Family Court: (1) tampering with a motor vehicle, “Admits Sufficient Facts, one year probation, special condition fifty-percent restitution”; (2) resisting arrest, “Nolo, 16 months probation”; and (3) unlawful delivery of heroin, “Admits Sufficient Facts, eighteen months Rhode Island Training School.” The district court counted each of these dispositions as a “prior sentence” under the sentencing guidelines. See U.S.S.G. §§ 4A1.2(a)(l), (d)(2). Accordingly, it found that DiPina had four criminal history points, placing him in criminal history category III. DiPina therefore was ineligible for the safety valve provision. On February 13, 1995, he was sentenced to the statutory minimum of five years in prison. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B).

After some intermediate litigation not relevant to the present case, DiPina appealed, contending that the district court erred in determining his criminal history category. He argued that two of his three prior juvenile dispositions — for the motor vehicle and heroin offenses, both carrying the notation “admits sufficient facts”— should not count toward his criminal history. 1 If those two dispositions were disregarded, DiPina’s criminal history would be in category I instead of category III, and he would be eligible for the safety valve. On January 29, 1999, while the appeal was pending, DiPina completed his prison term and began serving his five-year term of supervised release.

On May 27, 1999, this court held that DiPina’s appeal raised issues that depended on “certain factual determinations and the record is not clear enough as to these issues for us to resolve the dispute.” See DiPina, 178 F.3d at 78. We vacated DiPi-na’s sentence and remanded for further proceedings, stating:

*480 [0]n remand, the district court must first determine whether DiPina’s prior juvenile dispositions constituted diversions, such that subsection 4A1.2(f) applies. If so, because Family Court is the juvenile court in Rhode Island, these dispositions cannot be counted toward DiPina’s criminal history.
If, on the other hand, DiPina’s prior juvenile dispositions were not diversionary dispositions, then the district court must determine whether his admitting sufficient facts in Rhode Island Family Court was tantamount to a plea of guilty or nolo under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(a)(l) ... If DiPina’s prior juvenile dispositions were not tantamount to a plea of guilty or nolo, then they may not be counted toward his criminal history.

Id. at 78.

On remand, the district court limited its consideration to only one of DiPina’s juvenile dispositions: his admission of sufficient facts as to the unlawful delivery of heroin charges, which had resulted in an eighteen-month sentence at the Rhode Island Training School (RITS). The government introduced the following evidence: On July 15, 1992, the state of Rhode Island filed four charges against DiPina based on allegations that he delivered heroin to an undercover officer in violation of R.I. Gen. Laws § 21-28-4.01(2)(a). 2 Based on the state’s allegation that DiPina was a danger to the community, he was remanded to the custody of RITS. DiPina waived his right to a probable cause hearing.

On August 7,1992, DiPina, DiPina’s lawyer, and DiPina’s mother signed the first page of a two-page document entitled “Request for Admission of Specific Facts or Admission” (“RFA”). The first page of the RFA described the “offense(s)” as “Ct-1 — Ct-4 unlawful delivery.” As to those offenses, DiPina affirmed that he was “requesting] Court permission to withdraw [his] denial and to enter an AD-

MISSION TO SUFFICIENT FACTS OR ADMISSION.” DiPina also stated:

I understand that the ADMISSION OF SUFFICIENT FACTS is for all purposes the same as an ADMISSION and that I will be admitting sufficient facts to substantiate the offense(s) which [have] been brought against me in the cases to which these pleas relate.

In the RFA, DiPina affirmed that by changing his plea he would be “giving up and waiving” seven enumerated rights: (1) the right to a judge trial and to an appeal of any finding of delinquency or waywardness; (2) the right to insist that the state offer evidence proving the elements of the offenses beyond a reasonable doubt; (3) the presumption of innocence; (4) the privilege against self-incrimination; (5) the right to confront and cross-examine the witnesses against him; (6) the right to present evidence and witnesses on his own behalf and to testify on his own behalf; and (7) the right to appeal the sentence imposed by the court after the entry of his admission of sufficient facts. He also affirmed that he had received no promises other than that the court would impose a sentence of eighteen months in RITS, effective July 14, 1992, and that other pending charges would be dismissed.

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Bluebook (online)
230 F.3d 477, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 27325, 2000 WL 1610597, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jess-dipina-aka-gustavo-gonsalez-ca1-2000.