United States v. Edriss Baptiste, 876 F.3d 1057

Baptiste pled guilty in federal court to access-device fraud and aggravated identity theft and faced sentencing; the PSR assigned Criminal-History Category II based on one prior Florida disposition.
The Florida matter: Baptiste originally pled to a felony marijuana charge, served 2 days jail, was later detained by ICE for removal while on probation, then vacated the felony conviction on a Rule 3.850 motion.
After vacatur, Baptiste pled to misdemeanor marijuana and paraphernalia offenses; the state court withheld adjudication and recorded the disposition as “198 days time served,” apparently crediting time in ICE custody.
The PSR counted that Florida disposition as a prior sentence of imprisonment under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.1(b) and added 2 criminal-history points, producing Category II; Baptiste objected, arguing ICE detention could not be a prior sentence and that the withheld adjudication alters scoring.
The district court adopted the PSR and sentenced Baptiste; on appeal the Eleventh Circuit examined whether the Florida disposition should be scored under § 4A1.1(b) or treated as a diversionary disposition under § 4A1.1(c)/§ 4A1.2(f).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Baptiste’s Florida disposition counted as a prior "sentence of imprisonment" under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.1(b)	The government (PSR) treated the state court’s “198 days time served” as a prior sentence of imprisonment and therefore assigned 2 points under § 4A1.1(b).	Baptiste argued time in ICE custody is not a "sentence of imprisonment" for § 4A1.1(b) and, because adjudication was withheld, the disposition should not be scored as a prior sentence under § 4A1.2(a).	Court did not decide whether ICE detention can be "imprisonment" for § 4A1.1(b); instead held the disposition was a diversionary disposition with adjudication withheld and thus counts only under § 4A1.1(c) for 1 point under § 4A1.2(f).
Whether a withheld adjudication that follows a guilty or nolo contendere plea may be counted and, if so, how many points under the Guidelines	Government implicitly contended the state disposition could be counted as a prior sentence under § 4A1.1(b).	Baptiste argued withheld adjudication generally is not a "prior sentence" under § 4A1.2(a) and should not be scored as imprisonment; if counted it should be treated per diversion rules.	Court reaffirmed that withheld adjudications generally are not "prior sentences," but where there is a plea or admission they qualify as diversionary dispositions counted only under § 4A1.1(c)/§ 4A1.2(f) for 1 point.

United States v. Williams, 340 F.3d 1231 (11th Cir. 2003) (standard of review for guideline issues; sliding-scale deference)
Koon v. United States, 518 U.S. 81 (1996) (framework for deference to district courts in sentencing)
Buford v. United States, 532 U.S. 59 (2001) (standards for reviewing sentencing guideline applications)
United States v. Rockman, 993 F.2d 811 (11th Cir. 1993) (withheld adjudications generally are not "prior sentences")
United States v. Wright, 862 F.3d 1265 (11th Cir. 2017) (treats withheld adjudication after plea as a diversionary disposition under the Guidelines)
Molina-Martinez v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 1338 (2016) (errors in criminal-history calculation constitute significant procedural error requiring resentencing)
United States v. Carpenter, 803 F.3d 1224 (11th Cir. 2015) (same; enforcing the need to vacate and remand when Guidelines calculation is incorrect)