United States v. Rios-Hernandez, 645 F.3d 456

Ríos-Hernández pled guilty to taking a motor vehicle by force in interstate commerce under 18 U.S.C. § 2119, pursuant to a Rule 11(c)(1) plea agreement with a recommended lower-end guideline sentence.
The plea agreement contained a waiver-of-appeal clause conditioned on the court sentencing according to the agreement's terms and recommendations.
The PSI classified Ríos-Hernández as a career offender under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1 based on two Puerto Rico violence convictions (Abuse by Threat and Abuse).
At sentencing, the court sentenced to 120 months (mid-range) rather than the lower-end range contemplated by the parties, and explicitly allowed appellate review notwithstanding the waiver.
Ríos-Hernández appealed, arguing the waiver was not knowing/voluntary due to allegedly misleading court statements, and challenging the career-offender classification.
The First Circuit upheld the sentence, applying plain-error review to the career-offender challenge and affirming the district court’s ruling.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Validity of appellate waiver given sentencing deviation	Ríos-Hernández argues waiver was not knowing/voluntary due to misleading statements.	Waiver clause valid if sentence complies with plea terms; district court misled, so waiver should not bar appeal.	Waiver analyzed but court proceeds to merits; waiver not binding on undisputed merits given sentencing deviation.
Career-offender classification under § 4B1.1	Two Puerto Rico convictions for mutual combat are not crimes of violence; should not trigger career offender status.	The two priors qualify as crimes of violence or were properly used to support career offender status.	Court applies plain-error review and affirms career-offender designation; no plain error in failure to use categorical approach clearly established.

Fernández-Cabrera v. United States, 625 F.3d 48 (1st Cir. 2010) (waiver may be ineffective if court fails to follow plea agreement recommendations)
Teeter, 257 F.3d 14 (1st Cir. 2001) (validity of appellate waivers requires knowing and voluntary waiver with informed consent)
Acosta-Roman, 549 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2008) (contractual interpretation of plea agreements; resolve ambiguities in defendant's favor)
Ahrendt, 560 F.3d 69 (1st Cir. 2009) (plain-error review for sentencing arguments when not properly raised in district court)
Almenas, 553 F.3d 27 (1st Cir. 2009) (categorical approach to crimes of violence in § 4B1.2/4B1.1 analysis)
Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13 (2005) (allowing use of sentencing record (plea colloquy, plea agreement) for § 4B1.2 matters)
Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575 (1990) (definition and application of the crime-of-violence concept under categorical approach)
Williams, 529 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2008) (second-step analysis for crimes of violence under § 4B1.2)
Jimenez, 512 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2007) (acquiescence to PSI characterizations can affect need for categorical approach)