Gonzalez

MEMORANDUM *

These consolidated appeals arise from the prosecution of Katherine Paiz Gonzalez (“Paiz”) and her husband Luis Gonzalez (“Gonzalez”) for insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, and arson. Paiz appeals her conviction on the arson count. Gonzalez appeals the denial of his motion to suppress his confession and the district court’s calculation of his sentence under the Guidelines, which the Government also challenges on cross-appeal. We affirm both convictions, but reverse Gonzalez’s sentence and remand for resentenc-ing.

Paiz’s central claim is that her conviction for arson should be reversed because the doctrine of vicarious conspiracy liability set forth in Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640 , 66 S.Ct. 1180 , 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946), does not apply to the federal arson statute, which makes it a crime to “use[] fire or an explosive to commit any felony which may be prosecuted in a court of the United States.” 18 U.S.C. § 844 (h)(1). She argues that Pinkerton does not apply because the word “uses” in the phrase “uses fire,” id., requires “actual knowledge” on the part of the person using fire that he was doing so. This is true with respect to the…