United States v. Eric Myers, 702 F. App'x 129

Eric Thomas Myers admitted violating conditions of his supervised release; district court revoked release and sentenced him to five months’ imprisonment plus additional supervised release, including 12 months in a halfway house.
Myers appealed; counsel filed an Anders brief asserting no meritorious issues but raised ineffective assistance, judicial/probation officer bias, and unreasonableness of the halfway-house condition.
Myers filed a pro se brief reiterating bias and challenging the 12-month halfway-house condition as unreasonable.
The record contained no off-the-record communications or other evidence establishing judicial or probation officer animus; Myers’ alleged off-the-record judge–probation officer discussion was not part of the record.
The district court calculated the applicable policy statement range, considered statutory maxima, and explained that a substantial treatment period in a community setting was needed given Myers’ drug problem and rapid violations after release.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Ineffective assistance of counsel	Counsel failed to protect Myers’ rights / was ineffective	Record does not conclusively show ineffectiveness; proper vehicle is §2255 if not on record	Denied on direct appeal; ineffective assistance not conclusively shown on record
Judicial/probation officer bias	Judge and probation officer were biased; judge had off‑the‑record discussion that influenced sentence	No evidence in record of bias; probation officer is neutral information-gathering agent	Allegations conclusory; no record support; no bias shown
Procedural reasonableness of revocation sentence	(Implicit) Sentence procedurally unreasonable	Court considered Guidelines, §3553(a) factors and explained basis for sentence	Procedurally reasonable; court properly calculated range and considered factors
Substantive reasonableness / 12‑month halfway‑house condition	12 months in a halfway house is plainly unreasonable and excessive	Condition reasonably related to offense, history, need for treatment; court has discretion to impose community confinement	Not an abuse of discretion; condition upheld as reasonably related and not excessive

Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (U.S. 1967) (procedural framework for counsel filing a no‑merit brief on appeal)
United States v. Baptiste, 596 F.3d 214 (4th Cir. 2010) (ineffective-assistance claims on direct appeal require record conclusively showing deficiency)
United States v. Johnson, 935 F.2d 47 (4th Cir. 1991) (probation officer is a neutral, information‑gathering agent of the court)
United States v. Crudup, 461 F.3d 433 (4th Cir. 2006) (standard for reviewing revocation sentences for plain unreasonableness)
United States v. Faulls, 821 F.3d 502 (4th Cir. 2016) (abuse‑of‑discretion review for special conditions of supervised release)
United States v. Marino, 833 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2016) (district courts have significant flexibility to impose community confinement as a special condition)