Naeem Deonte Jones was convicted in 2014 of Hobbs Act robbery and brandishing a firearm, receiving a combined sentence of 125 months in prison and concurrent terms of supervised release. After his release in 2024, Jones violated multiple conditions of his supervised release, including failing drug tests, violating location restrictions, and leaving the judicial district. The Probation Officer filed a petition for revocation charging four violations. At the revocation hearing, Jones admitted to the conduct, including testing positive for illegal drugs on six occasions. The district court, without explanation, classified the drug-testing violation as a Grade B offense, calculated a sentencing range of 8 to 14 months, and imposed a 19-month prison sentence. Jones appealed, arguing the violation was legally a Grade C offense, which would have resulted in a lower sentencing range of 5 to 11 months.
The Fourth Circuit held that the district court erred in classifying the drug-testing violation as Grade B. Under the Sentencing Guidelines, a Grade B violation requires conduct that constitutes a federal, state, or local offense punishable by imprisonment exceeding one year. A Grade C violation includes conduct that constitutes a violation of any other condition of supervision. The court found that the petition for revocation charged Jones only with violating the condition to submit to drug testing, not with committing a new drug offense punishable by more than a year. Although the Probation Officer's supplemental report suggested the use of drugs constituted a Grade B offense, the petition itself did not allege a new crime, and the district court's findings were limited to the failed tests. The court emphasized that it is unfair to sentence a defendant for a more serious offense than the one charged and admitted without notice. Consequently, the error was plain and affected Jones's substantial rights. Additionally, the court noted that the sentence imposed appeared to exceed the statutory maximum for supervised release under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(h), which limits the term of supervised release to the original authorized term minus any time served on revocation.
The judgment is vacated and the case is remanded to the district court for resentencing. The district court must now calculate the sentencing range based on a Grade C violation, which lowers the applicable guidelines range. The court must also address whether the original sentence violated 18 U.S.C. § 3583(h) by exceeding the maximum allowable term of supervised release after subtracting the time served on revocation. This decision reinforces the requirement that sentencing courts must strictly adhere to the charges alleged in the revocation petition and cannot unilaterally upgrade the grade of a violation without notice.
Podcast (federal-narrative-summaries): Play in new window | Download