United States v. Vázquez-Méndez, 915 F.3d 85

Vázquez pleaded guilty in 2001 to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to 168 months plus five years supervised release; he began supervised release on Dec. 28, 2012.
Near the end of supervised release in 2017, probation reported several violations: three positive marijuana tests, failure to report a change of address, missed drug-treatment and drug-screening appointments, and failure to timely report two domestic incidents.
Police responded to domestic disturbances (July 25 and Aug. 30, 2017); no criminal charges were filed but a restraining order was entered pending a hearing; Vázquez did not promptly notify his probation officer.
The government moved to revoke supervised release; Vázquez admitted the violations and declined an evidentiary hearing; parties jointly recommended time served (42 days) and six months’ supervised release (including three months’ home detention).
The district court imposed an upward variance to two years’ imprisonment plus two years supervised release, citing punishment, deterrence, community protection, and statements implying the sentence would aid Vázquez’s rehabilitation.
Vázquez objected at sentencing that extending the prison term to promote rehabilitation is impermissible; he appealed, arguing the sentence was substantively unreasonable and improperly based on rehabilitation and unproven domestic-violence allegations.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the district court impermissibly relied on rehabilitation to increase the sentence	Vázquez: sentence lengthened to promote rehabilitation violates Tapia; rehabilitation cannot be a basis for imprisonment length	Government/District: sentence based on seriousness, deterrence, public protection, and multiple violations; rehabilitation comments were ancillary	Court: Reversed — district court expressly relied on rehabilitation as a basis, violating Tapia; remand for resentencing
Whether unproven domestic-violence allegations improperly motivated the upward variance	Vázquez: judge referenced alleged domestic aggression that was unproven and should not be considered	Government/District: references came after sentence and court relied on other grounds; conduct justified upward treatment	Court: Doubtful that judge relied on unproven allegations; on remand court warned not to consider unproven charges

Tapia v. United States, 564 U.S. 319 (prohibiting imposing or lengthening prison to promote rehabilitation)
United States v. Molignaro, 649 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. rule that Tapia applies on revocation resentencing)
United States v. Del Valle-Rodríguez, 761 F.3d 171 (rehabilitative motivation is reversible only if dominant factor)
United States v. Bryant, 643 F.3d 28 (remanding to same or different judge discussed; remand to different judge now rare)