653 F. App'x 50
2d Cir.2016Background
- Defendant Derrick Jabbar Brown was convicted of possessing child pornography and had supervised release revoked from a prior child-pornography distribution conviction.
- At sentencing the district court imposed special supervised-release conditions banning Brown from electronically viewing any adult pornography and any images of naked children, without explaining the basis for those conditions on the record.
- Brown did not object to the conditions at sentencing; the Second Circuit therefore reviewed for plain error.
- The government argued the conditions were justified because Brown maintained large collections of both adult and child pornography, stored them on the same devices/folders, and possessed images depicting adults sexually assaulting children.
- The Second Circuit required individualized, on-the-record findings explaining how special conditions are reasonably related to sentencing goals and mindful of First Amendment interests in non-obscene sexually explicit materials.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether district court plainly erred by imposing special supervised-release conditions banning electronic viewing of adult pornography and images of naked children without explanation | Government: the conditions are reasonably related to sentencing goals because Brown had large collections of adult and child pornography, stored together, including images of sexual abuse | Brown: conditions are overbroad, not reasonably related to sentencing goals, and implicate First Amendment interests; district court gave no individualized explanation | Vacated the challenged special conditions and remanded because the court gave no on-the-record individualized findings and the record did not self-evidently justify the bans |
Key Cases Cited
- United States v. Marcus, 560 U.S. 258 (plain-error standard)
- United States v. Eng, 14 F.3d 165 (sentence in violation of law is plain error)
- United States v. Myers, 426 F.3d 117 (standards for special supervised-release conditions)
- United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc., 513 U.S. 64 (First Amendment protection for nonobscene sexually explicit materials)
- United States v. Balon, 384 F.3d 38 (requirement for on-the-record individualized explanation for special conditions)
- United States v. Carlton, 442 F.3d 802 (acknowledging that strict conditions may be appropriate in child-pornography cases)