United States v. Jarod White
2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 19371
| 8th Cir. | 2016Background
- White was convicted in 2010 of Assault Resulting in Serious Injury (Class C felony) and sentenced to 41 months plus three years' supervised release beginning February 2013.
- Multiple supervised-release violations followed (state assault charge in 2013 leading to a revocation, positive marijuana test, failure to complete treatment, missed tests, failure to maintain employment or contact with probation), resulting in repeated modifications to release conditions.
- In September 2015 the court ordered White to reside in a halfway house; he left after one day, explaining he feared being housed with sex offenders and being forced into violent prison situations.
- At the revocation hearing the district court reviewed White’s extensive criminal history (including many violent incidents and some arrests with dismissed charges) and characterized him as violent; it imposed a two-year prison term upon revocation (the statutory maximum for a Class C felony revocation).
- White appealed, arguing procedural error for reliance on unproven arrests and substantive unreasonableness of the two-year sentence (a large variance above the Guidelines recommendation of 3–9 months).
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Procedural error: reliance on arrests and dismissed charges | White: court improperly relied on unproven allegations/arrests in PSIR without government proof | Government/District Court: court relied on underlying violent facts in PSIR, many convictions, and there was no timely dispute of most incidents | No procedural error; Richey inapplicable because White did not meaningfully dispute the underlying conduct and many incidents were convictions; any error harmless |
| Substantive reasonableness of upward variance (2-yr sentence) | White: two years is substantively unreasonable and an abuse of discretion given Guidelines range | Government/District Court: court considered §3553(a) factors, prior violent history, repeated revocations, and underrepresented criminal history; variance justified | No abuse of discretion; sentence reasonable given history, prior revocations, and tribal convictions not counted in Guidelines |
Key Cases Cited
- United States v. Richey, 758 F.3d 999 (8th Cir. 2014) (sentencing may not be based on disputed, unproven allegations in probation reports)
- Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38 (2007) (abuse-of-discretion review of sentencing; procedural and substantive reasonableness standards)
- United States v. Tabor, 531 F.3d 688 (8th Cir. 2008) (harmless-error analysis for sentencing errors)
- United States v. Hawk Wing, 433 F.3d 622 (8th Cir. 2006) (prior arrests alone generally not a basis for upward departure; underlying facts may be considered)
- United States v. Walker, 513 F.3d 891 (8th Cir. 2008) (standard of review for revocation sentences)