UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. David Tenorio SABLAN, Defendant-Appellant

David Tenorio Sabían appeals the sentence imposed after his conviction for maliciously destroying property of the United States Post Office with an explosive in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844 (f). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742 . We vacate Sablan’s sentence and remand to the district court for resentencing.

I.

David Tenorio Sabían, a native and resident of Guam, was 29 years old at the time of sentencing. Sabían has a history of psychological and emotional problems. He and his sixteen siblings were physically abused by their alcoholic father when they were growing up. Sabían was categorized as a “slow learner” in elementary school, and he cannot read or write. An evaluation conducted while he was in high school revealed that Sablan’s I.Q. was in the borderline range for mental retardation, and another evaluation in December 1993 confirmed this diagnosis. His high school psychological records indicate that Sabían was developmentally delayed, suffered from low self-esteem, was “easily led” by others, and had an “inadequate personality.”

Sabían started his long history of drug abuse in the eleventh grade, when he began smoking up to ten marijuana…