United States v. Joshua Downs
2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 7386
| 7th Cir. | 2015Background
- Appellant was sentenced in 2013 to five years of probation for a drug offense.
- Appellant violated probation about six months later by driving drunk, causing an accident and injury.
- At revocation, district judge sentenced appellant to 1 year and 1 day in prison plus 10 years of supervised release.
- Judge did not calculate the applicable guidelines range for supervised release.
- Statutory minimum supervised-release term was three years; the top of the guidelines range was also three years.
- Judge imposed 10 years of supervised release; concerns arose about vague/or overlapping conditions and failure to justify the length under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Did the judge err by not calculating the guidelines range for supervised release? | United States argues error in failing to compute range before sentencing. | Appellant contends discretion allowed beyond ceiling; no unlawful range was binding. | Reversed and remanded for recalculation and reconsideration. |
| Are the supervised-release conditions and their drafting proper and clear? | Government acknowledges some conditions are problematic and vague. | Appellant argues conditions are overbroad and ambiguously worded. | Remand to reexamine and potentially discard/ rew ord conditions. |
| Should the sentence be reconsidered given the interaction between prison time and supervised release? | Government contends no need to alter if ceiling applied, but acknowledges error. | Appellant argues custodial time may affect balance of sentence on remand. | Remand to allow court to adjust prison term and/or conditions if needed. |
Key Cases Cited
- United States v. Gibbs, 578 F.3d 694 (7th Cir. 2009) (guidelines interaction with statutory ranges; ceiling noted)
- United States v. Thompson, 777 F.3d 368 (7th Cir. 2015) (examines accountability of guidelines and sentencing factors)
- United States v. Siegel, 753 F.3d 705 (7th Cir. 2014) (commentary on conditions and clarity of supervised release terms)
- United States v. Johnson, 529 U.S. 53 (2000) (limits automatic offset of supervised release by prison time; aims of supervised release)
- United States v. Albertson, 645 F.3d 191 (3d Cir. 2011) (interplay between prison time and other sentence components)
- Burkey v. Marberry, 556 F.3d 142 (3d Cir. 2009) (recognizes non-interchangeability yet overlap of sentence components)