Lead Opinion
OPINION
Duаne Lominac appeals from a sentence imposed for the violation of conditions of his supervised release. The district court revoked Lominac’s supervised release and sentenced him under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3) and (h) to a six-month term of imprisonment to be followed by a new thirty-month term of supervised release. Lominac contends that this sentence violates the prohibition against ex post facto laws because (1) § 3583(h) was enacted after he committed his original felonies and (2) this new section increases the punishment for his original crimes. Because we agree, we vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing.
I.
Lominac and an accomplice defrauded the American Express Travel Related Services Company out of $166,000 by using credit cards obtained under fictitious names. See American Express Travel Related Servs. Co. v. Lominac,
On February 14, 1996, less than a week before Lominac would have completed his entire sentence, the district court issued a summons requiring him to appear and show cause why his supervised release should not be revoked. After holding an evidеntiary hearing on March 26, 1996, the court found that Lominac had violated the terms of his
Lominac, who appeared at the hearing pro se, objected to this sentence, saying “I don’t think that I was originally convicted under the law you are sentencing me under---- I think that the subsection you are using ... to continue my supervised release ... was added on after I was originally convicted.” The district court took Lominae’s comment as an ex post facto challenge.
At the time Lominac committed his crimes, 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e) alone governed the sanction for violation of the conditions of super vised release. Once a violation was found, the district court (after considering specified factors) could under this subsection:
(1) terminate a term of supervised release and discharge the person released ...;
(2) extend a term of supervised release if less than the maximum authorized term [defined by 18 U.S.C. § 3583(b) ] was previously imposed, and ... modify, reduce, or enlarge the conditions of supervised release ...;
(3) revoke a term of supervised release, and require the person to serve in prisоn all or part of the term of supervised release without credit for the time previously served on postrelease supervision ..., except that a person whose term is revoked under this paragraph may not be required to serve more than 3 years in prison if the offense for which the person was convicted was a Class B felony, or more than 2 years in prison if the offense was a Class C or D felony; or
(4) order the person to remain at his place of residence during nonworking hours....
18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(1)-(5) (1988) (including technical amendments added in 1990) (emphasis added).
Congress acted on September 13, 1994, when it amended § 3583 by adding subsection (h). See Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Pub.L. No. 103-322, § 110505(3), 108 Stat. 1796, 2017 (1994). The new subsection provides:
When a term of supervised release is revoked and the defendant is required to serve a term of imprisonment that is less than the maximum term of imprisonment authorized under subsection (e)(3), the court may include a requirement that the defendant be placed on a term of supervised release after imprisonment. The length of such a term of supervised release shall not exceed the term of supervised release authorized by statute for the offense that resulted in the original term of supervised release, less any term of imprisonment that was imposed upon revocation of supervised release.
18 U.S.C. § 3583(h) (1994). This subsection does not overrule our decision in Cooper, which limits a court to only one of the four options under § 3583(e). However, if the sentencing court chooses the imprisonment option, subsection (h) gives the court the additional authority to impose a new term of supervised release to follow imprisonment.
The district court rejected Lominac’s pro se argument that it was an ex post facto violation to use § 3583(h) to tack supervised release onto a prison term for viоlation of his release. In its analysis the district court first calculated the maximum punishment that Lominae could have received under § 3583(e), the only section applicable when he committed his underlying offenses. Because Lominae had been convicted of a Class C felony and a Class D felony, he could have been imprisoned for his release violations for not more than two years for each of these underlying felonies. See 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3). Thus, the district- court determined that Lominac’s violations could have netted him a maximum penalty of four years in prison prior to the enactment of § 3583(h). The court concluded that “because [it had] imposed a six month term of confinement and a thirty month term of supervised release rather thаn imposing up to four years in prison, the [application of subsection (h) ] worked to Defendant’s advantage” and was not an ex post facto violation. Lominae now appeals with the assistance of counsel.
II.
Article I of the United States Constitution provides that Congress shall not pass any “ex post facto Law.” U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 3. “Although the Latin phrase ‘ex post facto’ literally encompasses any law passed ‘after the fact,’ it has long been recognized ... that the constitutional prohibition on ex post facto laws applies only to penal statutes which disadvantage the offender affected by them.” Collins v. Youngblood,
Lominae argues that the district court’s applicаtion of § 3583(h) retroactively increased the punishment for his original crimes. This argument implicates the two “central concerns” behind the Ex Post Facto Clause, that is, “ ‘the lack of fair notice and governmental restraint when the legislature increases punishment beyond what was prescribed when the crime was consummated.’ ” Lynce v. Mathis,
Our ex post facto analysis involves a two-step inquiry. “To fall within the ex post facto prohibition, a law must [1] be retrospective ... and [2] it ‘must disadvantage the offender affected by it’ by altering the definition of criminal conduct or increasing punishment for the crime.” Lynce, 519 U.S. at -,
A.
“A law is retrospective if it ‘changes the legal consequences of acts completed before its effective date.’ ” Miller v. Florida,
In Fender v. Thompson,
Later, in United, States v. Parriett,
Our decision in Parriett completely forecloses the government’s argument in this ease. Because “punishment for violating the terms of supervised release is punishment for the original offense,” United States v. Woodrup,
B.
The focus in the second step of the inquiry “is not on whether a legislative change produces some ambiguous sort of ‘disadvantage,’ ... but on whether any .such change alters the definition of criminal conduct or increases the penalty by which a crime is punishable.” California Dep’t of Corrections v. Morales,
The government argues that the district court properly concluded that Lominae was not disadvantaged by an increase in punishment. The government says that Lominae could have received a four-year prison sentence under the old scheme, which would have restrained his liberty for .a period longer than the sentence he actually received (six months of imprisonment and thirty months of release). The government adds that § 3583(h) worked to Lominac’s advantage because it gave the district court the flexibility to fashion a sanction with a shоrter jail term to be followed by a longer term of supervised release. This flexibility allowed the court to give Lominae a more lenient sentence that could be amplified later with additional prison or release time if he violated his release once again.
The government’s analysis, however, must be rejected. “[O]ne is not barred from challenging a change in the penal code on ex post facto grounds simply because the sentence he received under the new law was not more onerous than that which he might have received under the old.” Dobbert v. Florida,
Instead, we must decide whether the overall effect of § 3583(h) disadvantaged Lominae by increasing the punishment he could have received for his crimes. As' a preliminary matter, we must determine whether § 3583(h) changed the law by allowing a court to sentence a defendant to both imprisonment and a new term of supervised release. In United States v. Cooper,
Before subsection (h) was enacted, this circuit read § 3583(e) to, allow a court, when sentencing for a violation of supervised release, to impose either imprisonment or extend the term of supervised release, but not both. See 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(2) & (3) (1988); Cooper,
Class of Felony
Length of prison term for violating condition of release, § 3583(b) &(e)
Length of total term of supervised release, § 3583(b) & (e)(3)
Up to 5 years Class A Up to 5 years
Up to 3 years Class B Up to 5 years
Up to 2 years Class C, D Up to 3 years
Up to 1 year Class E Up to 1 year
(and misdemeanors)
Accordingly, under § 3583(e) a person convicted of a Class C or D felony could have faced up to two years of prison or an extension of his supervised release term up to the three-year maximum .for each felony. Beсause Lominac had already served three years of concurrent supervised release on his Class C and D felonies by the time he was sentenced for violating his release, only the option of a prison term with a two-year cap (for each felony) would have been available to the court under the old scheme.
In contrast, the newly-enacted § 3583(h) empowers a court to do much more. In addition to allowing a court to sentence a defendant to virtually the same term of imprisonment as above, it provides that a new term of supervised release may also be imposed. See 18 U.S.C. § 3583(b), (e)(3) & (h) (1994). The length of this new supervised release term is capped at the maximum term of supervised release allowed by § 3583(b) for the original crime with credit given for any prison time imposed under § 3583(e)(3). See id. § 3583(h). Therefore, the maximum penalty for violating the terms of one’s release under § 3583(e)(3) and (h) is, for Class C and D felonies, two years (less one day) in prison and an additional year and a day of supervised release.
This potential punishment is greater than that under § 3583(e) alone. While Lominac only faced two years of prison on each crime when § 3583(e) stood by itself, § 3583(h) exposed him to this same penalty (less one day) plus an additional year and a day of supervised release. Likewise, even if Lominac’s supervised release could have been extended under § 3583(e) alone, a three-year total term of release would clearly be less onеrous than two new years (less one day) of prison and a new year and a day of release authorized by § 3583(h). See United States v. Dozier,
III.
The usual remedy for an ex post facto violation in sentencing is a remand for resentencing under the law in place at the time the defendant committed his crime. See Weaver v. Graham,
While North Carolina v. Pearce,
When the district court sentenced Lominac to six months in prison and thirty months of supervised release for his release violation, the court said it was departing upward from the three to nine months of imprisonment recommended in the Guidelines. Had the court recognized that it lacked authority to impose the new term of supervised release, it might have validly concluded that a prison' term of longer than six months was appropriate.
‘ On remand, however, any prison time that Lominac receives under a resentence must' be reduced by the time he has already served for violating his release, that is, his six months in prison and the timе he has served under the (new) unconstitutional term of supervised release. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b)(1) (1994), the Attorney General, through the Bureau of Prisons, is required to credit Lominac' for the six months imprisonment served for his violation. See United States v. Wilson,
This result is mandated by the Double Jeopardy Clause. The Supreme Court has held that after a conviction is reversed, the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee against double jeopardy “absolutely requires that punishment already exacted must be fully ‘credited’ in imposing sentence upon a new conviction for the same offense.” Pearce,
Finally, in deciding to remand, we have considered whether Lominac has served all the time that he is legally required to serve. While the Supreme Court’s decision in In re Bradley,
Much like Bradley, Lominac was sentenced to two forms of punishment even though the applicable statute did not authorize the court to impose one of those forms. And because Lominac has served the six months in prison, he arguably has satisfied “one valid alternative provision of the original sentence” and, hence, should be released. However, as the Supreme Court explained in Jones v. Thomas,
Lominac’s sentence for violation of supervised release is vacated, and thе ease is remanded for resentencing in conformity with this opinion.
VACATED AND REMANDED.
Notes
. These crimes constitute Class D and C felonies, respectively. Cf. 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1029(a)(2) & (c)(1) with 18 U.S.C. § 3559(a)(3) & (4) (1988) (defining Class C and D felonies).
."[D]istrict courts retain jurisdiction for a reasonable time after the period of supervised release expires.in order to hold hearings on petitions relating to violations of the conditions of supervised release that were filed during the pendency of the term of supervised release.” United States v. Barton,
. Lominac was not sentenced to imprisonment under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3) for his first supervised release violation. Cf. infra note 10. Instead, the terms of his supervised release were modified.
. Limited technical amendments in November 1990 did not make substantive changes to subsection (e). Cf. Crime Control Act of 1990, Pub.L. No. 101-647, § 3589(2), 104 Stat. 4789, 4930 (1990) (amending subsection). We therefore have reproduced the amended statute. Cf. United States v. Cooper,
. We recognize that the Sixth Circuit takes a different view. See United States v. Page,
. Because the question here is whether § 3583(h) increases the authorized sentence that Lominae may receive, this case is not governed by the line of cases concerning procedural changes that pose a risk of increasing the punishment for a crime. See Morales,
. In circuits that had previously interpreted § 3583(e) to authorize both imprisonment and supervised release, § 3583(h) did.not change prior law and hence could-not disadvantage defendants in violation of the Ex Post Facto Clause. See, e.g., United States v. Wash, No. 95-4156,
. Subsection (h) allows a term of supervised release to be included after imprisonment when “less than the maximum term of imprisonment authorized under subsection (e)(3)” is imposed. As a result, a sentence under subsection (h) can include supervised release if the prison term is merely one day less than the maximum term.
. This analysis applies with equal force to Class B, C, and D felonies because of the difference between the amount of prison time that can be imposed under § 3583(e)(3) and the maximum period of supervised release authorized by § 3583(b). See Dozier,
While the Seventh Circuit’s decision in United States v. Withers,
For Class B, C, and D felonies the amount of prison allowed under § 3583(e)(3) alone is less than the total term of restraint allowed by § 3583(h). This is because subsection (h) permits an additional term of supervised release to be tacked on to virtually the same amount of imprisonment that could be imposed under § 3583(e)(3) by itself. See supra at 314-15. This additional penalty is two years of supervised release for a Class B felony and one year for Class C and D felonies. In this way § 3583(h) clearly increases the punishment authorized after a release violation.
Likewise, if one compares subsection (h) to the option of extending a term of supervised release under § 3583(e)(2), subsection (h) still increases the amount of authorized punishment. Withers is partially correct in stating that "the defendant is subject to the same total amount of restraint” under § 3583(h) becausе the total duration of the mixed punishment under that subsection is equal to the maximum total term of supervised release under § 3583(b) and (e)(2). See id. However, even though the total time of punishment may remain the same, the prison and supervised release mix allowed by § 3583(h) is clearly more onerous than a sentence of the same total length on just supervised release. No matter how it is cut, section 3583(h) increases the punishment authorized after violations of supervised release when the underlying crime is a Class B, C, or D felony.
Because the Withers decision incorrectly interpreted the impact of § 3583(h) on the statutory scheme, we believe it erred in failing to find an ex post facto violation.
. In addition to the disadvantage discussed above, Lominac argues that the application of § 3583(h) further disadvantages him because the reimposition of supervised release after a prison term opens the possibility that this new term of supervised release might be revoked in the future, resulting in another sentence of prison and supervised release. This and other subsequent terms of supervised release also will be subject to revocation, and because defendants are not given credit for time previously served on (revoked) supervised release, see 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3) & (h), the total duration of subsequent periods of supervised release is theoretically without limit. See United States v. Collins,
. As discussed above, the option of extending Lominac’s term of supervised release was not available to the district court because he had .already served the three-year maximum term of supervised release allowed under § 3583(b) and (e)(2). See supra at 315.
. The provision of 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3) which states that a tеrm of imprisonment for violations of supervised release shall be imposed "without credit for time previously served on postrelease supervision” does not apply in this case. That provision simply ensures that a defendant is not given credit for a term of supervised release when he violates the conditions of that same release. Cf. Willis v. Meier,
Additionally, this case is unlike those in which a defendant is released on a conditional bond pending trial or an appeal. Those situations do not involve punishment for an offense, and thus the Fifth Amendment does not require that time on bond be credited.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring and dissenting:
I concur in all of the opinion through and including Part II, but as to Part III, I respectfully dissent.
I see no meaningful distinction between Ex Parte Lange,
