Topic
Every decision we've filed under Supervised Release.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's revocation of Cody Ray Leveke's supervised release and its imposition of a within-Guidelines prison term. The court held that the lower court did not clearly err in finding a mental health treatment violation and did not abuse its discretion in weighing sentencing factors.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed the denial of a sentence reduction for a defendant whose criminal history category was lowered by a Sentencing Guidelines amendment. The court held that a statutory mandatory minimum sentence prevented any further reduction of the term already being served.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed Donald Ray Hurst, Jr.'s conviction and sentence while dismissing his appeal regarding the reasonableness of his lifetime supervised release term. The court remanded the case solely to correct a clerical error where a recommended vocational training provision was omitted from the written judgment.
The Tenth Circuit reversed a conviction, ruling that the Fourth Amendment does not permit a protective sweep of a vehicle based solely on a passenger's romantic relationship with an arrested driver. The court held that the government's reliance on this association constituted an impermissible criminality-by-association test rather than a valid totality-of-circumstances analysis for reasonable suspicion.
The Fifth Circuit granted the Government's unopposed motion for summary affirmance in a challenge to a firearms conviction. The court rejected the appellant's Second Amendment and Commerce Clause arguments without issuing a full written opinion.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed a 360-month sentence for child pornography production, ruling that the defendant failed to prove the government's gender-based comments at sentencing constituted plain or structural error. The court held that the district court's reliance on the nature of the crime and abuse of trust, rather than the defendant's sex, meant the defendant's substantial rights were not affected.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed the denial of a motion to suppress evidence obtained from a search warrant that mistakenly described a multi-unit dwelling as a single-family home. The court held that the warrant was valid because the investigating officer reasonably believed the address was a single unit, and even if the warrant were defective, the search was justified by exigent circumstances and the plain-view doctrine.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a 24-month prison sentence imposed after the revocation of William Coleman's supervised release. The court held that the district court did not clearly err in finding that Coleman possessed a firearm during a shoplifting incident, despite conflicting witness testimony and low-quality video evidence.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the revocation of Elliot Walker's supervised release and his 36-month sentence, holding that circumstantial evidence was sufficient to prove he possessed fentanyl with intent to distribute. The court further ruled that any potential error in admitting hearsay testimony was harmless and that the district court did not plainly err by failing to exclude retributive factors from its sentencing reasoning.
The Sixth Circuit affirmed $125,000 fines imposed on two physicians, ruling that their appellate waivers barred challenges to the reasonableness of the sentences. The court further held that even if the Eighth Amendment challenge were considered, the fines were not grossly disproportional given the defendants' admitted conduct involving thousands of fraudulent claims.