Opinion ID: 4554401
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Set-Aside Versus Suspended

Text: Because the Georgia court did not suspend Gomez-Colin’s 5-year sentence, the district court correctly calculated Gomez-Colin’s enhancement for the 5-year sentence, criminal history category, and, thus, his guidelines range. We review this claim de novo. Graham, 275 F.3d at 513-14. Under the guidelines, “[i]f part of a sentence of imprisonment was suspended, ‘sentence of imprisonment’ refers only to the portion that was not suspended.” U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(b)(2). Here, the Georgia court “set aside” Gomez-Colin’s 5-year sentence rather than suspending the sentence. Gomez-Colin asked the district court and now asks this Court to find that the “set aside” order was really just a misnamed “suspens[ion]” of the sentence. The guidelines and the Georgia court, however, treat “set aside” and “suspended” differently. Although Note 10 to § 4A1.2 deals with convictions rather than sentences, the language is useful because it shows that the guidelines draw a distinction between setting something aside and suspending something: “A number of jurisdictions have various procedures pursuant to which previous convictions may be set aside or the defendant may be pardoned for reasons unrelated to innocence or errors of law . . . . Sentences resulting from such convictions are to be counted.” U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2 cmt. n.10. Suspended sentences (or at least the portions that are suspended), on the other hand, do not count as sentences of imprisonment, § 4A1.2(b)(2), -8- Case No. 19-5616, United States v. Gomez-Colin whereas convictions “set aside . . . for reasons unrelated to innocence or errors of law” still do. Id. at cmt. n.10. As such, the guidelines treat “set aside” and “suspended” differently. The Georgia court clearly knew that it could use the term “suspended,” but it chose to use “set aside” in the order at issue. When the Georgia court initially imposed the 5-year sentence on July 7, 2011, it also “suspended” the balance of Gomez-Colin’s probation. Despite the recent suspension of part of Gomez-Colin’s probation, the Georgia court, when revising that decision, “set aside” the 5-year sentence rather than suspending it. The Court will not go back now and substitute the language used by the Georgia court. Because the district court correctly determined that Gomez-Colin’s sentence had not been suspended, the court correctly imposed a 10-point enhancement to his crime and a 3-point increase to his criminal-history category.