United States v. Todd David NevilleUnited States v. Todd David Neville
Todd Neville appeals the district court’s affirmance of the magistrate’s revocation of Neville’s term of supervised release and the imposition of a six month sentence of imprisonment under
We affirm the district court’s ruling. We find that a court’s assumption of jurisdiction under
I.BACKGROUND
On July 27, 1989, after consenting to be tried by a magistrate judge, Todd Neville pled guilty to possession of a controlled substance in violation of
On January 14, 1991, three days after his term of supervised release expired, Neville contacted his probation officer and was told about the warrant. Neville appeared in the magistrate judge’s court on January 16, 1991. At that proceeding, Neville entered his first objection to the court’s jurisdiсtion arguing that the court no longer had jurisdiction since Neville’s year of supervised release had ended on January 11. The court continued the hearing until January 24, 1991 at which time Neville renewed his objection to jurisdiction. Neville also withdrew his consent to appear before the magistrate judge and requested that his case be heard by the district court.
The magistrate judge ruled that jurisdiction was proper even though the term of supervised release was scheduled to end on January 11 because the warrant “tolled” the statute. Aftеr a hearing, the magistrate judge revoked the defendant’s supervised release and sentenced Neville to six months imprisonment. Neville appealed the magistrate judge’s ruling to the district court.
The district court affirmed the magistrate judge’s ruling that the cdurt had jurisdiction to revoke Neville’s supervised release and affirmed the six month sentence. The district court record is silent as to the jurisdictional dispute relating to the magistrate’s power.
II.STANDARD OF REVIEW
The only issues on appeal are questions of jurisdiction, jurisdiction is a question of law subject to
de novo
review.
United States v. Visman,
III.DISCUSSION
A. JURISDICTION AFTER EXPIRATION OF SUPERVISED RELEASE TERM
Neville claims that the magistrate judge erred in ruling that the warrant issued on January 4, 1991 tolled the supervised release revocation statute because there is no “tolling” provision in
We recently decided that a term of supervised release is tolled while an individual is in custody for another criminal offense.
United States v. Crane,
“In construing a statute in a case of first impression, we look to the traditional signposts of statutory construction.... ”
Brock v. Writers Guild of America, West, Inc.,
The statute of concern,
revoke a term of supervised release, and require the person tо serve in prison all or part of the term of supervised release without credit for time previously served on post-release supervision, if it finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the person violated a condition of supervised release, pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure that are applicable to probation revocation ...
Although
(2) Revocation Hearing. The revocation hearing, unless waived by the person, shall be held within a reasonable time in the district of jurisdiction.
Moreover, a finding that there is no tolling provision would be contrary to the rest of the statutory scheme.
Importantly, under the defendant’s interpretation of
Defendant argues further that the power of the court to revoke supervised release cannot extend past the end of the term of supervision because
The defendant’s comparison between the supervised release and probation statutes to suggest a lack of jurisdiction is also without merit.
9
Neville contrasts
Neville’s argument is contradicted by the uniform interpretаtion of the old probation statute in the caselaw. Between 1949 and 1986 revocation of probation was governed by
At any time within the probation period, or within the maximum probation period permitted by section 3651 of this title [five years], the court ... may issue a warrant for his arrest for violation of probation occurring during the probation period.
As speedily as possible after arrest the probationer shall be taken before the court for the district having jurisdiction over him. Thereupon the court may revoke the probation and require him to serve the sentence imposed, or any lesser sentence, and, if imposition of sentence was suspended, may impose any sen *998 tence which might originally have been imposed.
Former
that as long as formal revocation proceedings are commenced (by arrest warrant or otherwise) within the five-year period, probation can be revoked, even if the revocation hearing starts and the actual revocation takes place after the end of the five-year period.
United States v. Bazzano,
[t]he district court had jurisdiction to execute the remainder of Nicholas’ sentence, even if the five-year probationary period had expired, because a bench warrant had been issued for his arrest within the initial five-year period, and the hearing upon revocation was held within a reasonable time after execution of the warrant.
See also United States v. Bartholdi,
When Congress revised the statutory provisions regarding probation- in 1984 and added the specific “Delayed Revocation” provision that is now
Lastly, Neville cites
United States v. Behnezhad,
*999
To be sure, the presence of explicit “Delayed Revocation” provisions in
We hold a tolling provision is implicit in
B. A DEFENDANT DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO REVOKE VALIDLY GIVEN CONSENT TO BE HEARD BEFORE A MAGISTRATE JUDGE AT A SUPERVISED RELEASE REVOCATION HEARING
The second issue raised on appeal is whether a magistrate judge has authority to revoke supervised release once the defendant has moved to withdraw his consent to proceed before a magistrate judge at the supervised release revocation hearing. Ne-ville does not deny that his consent was valid when initially given. Instead, he argues his withdrawal of consent at the supervised release revocation hearing destroyed the magistrate judge’s jurisdiction to preside over his case. We hold that the magistrate judge properly denied Neville’s motion to withdraw his consent.
Magistrate judge jurisdiction over misde-meanants is conditioned on consent of the parties.
The right to adjudication before an Article III judge is an important constitutional right.
United States v. Mortensen,
Although withdrawal of consent is not an absolute right, we acknowledge that there are situations in which we permit parties to withdraw consent. We have held that a party who consents to trial before a magistrate judge can withdraw that consent after mistrial and before retrial but only if the notice of withdrawal is timely.
Mortensen,
In addition to timeliness, we consider other factors ruling on a motion to withdraw consent to proceed before a magistrate judge. These factors include whether granting the motion would unduly interfere with or delay the proceedings,
id.,
the burdens and costs to litigants, and whether consent was voluntary and uncoerced.
Pacemaker,
In the instant case, Neville gave consent to be heard before a magistrate judge with the assistance of counsel. His consent was entirely voluntary. Neville gave no indication of his intent to withdraw consent before he pled guilty. In fact, Neville withdrew his consent to be heard before the magistrate judge after imprisonment, after release, and after violation of supervised release. His aрpeal is one of extreme untimeliness and borders on being dilatory. Neville presented only one reason to permit appeal of his consent — the jurisdictional argument relating to the tolling provision in the supervised release statute. Neville offered no other grounds for granting his motion.
Moreover, entertaining such tardy motions to withdraw consent wastes judicial resources and is contrary to the interest of justice. Allowing Neville and other parties before a magistrate judge to withdraw consent at will would undermine the role рlayed by magistrate judges in our judicial system. We decline to permit such potential abuse of the system. In Carter, the Fifth Circuit cogently stated that there is
nothing in the statute or the legislative history that requires continuing expressions of consent before a magistrate can exercise authority under a valid reference. Nor will we accept the slippery-slope invitation to read into the statute a rule that would allow a party to express conditional consent to a reference, thereby obtaining what amounts to a free shot at a favorable outcome or a veto of an unfavorable outcome. Any such rule would allow the party to hold the power of consent over the magistrate like a sword of Damocles, ready to strike the reference should the magistrate issue a ruling not quite to the party’s liking. We will not countenance such fast and loose toying with the judicial system.
Carter
Neville relinquished the opportunity to be heard by an Article III judge, and for these reasons we decline to give that opportunity back to him. We affirm the district court decision.
Notes
. Neville appearеd before the court three times for violating the terms of supervised release by using illegal drugs. The third time led to the revocation of his release.
.In Crane, after serving his term in custody, the defendant violated the terms of his supervised release in part by absconding from the court-ordered location of his supervised release. A magistrate judge issued a bench warrant for the defendant’s arrest. Three months later, the defendant was arrested on a separate charge of petty theft. The defendant pled guilty to the charge of petty theft and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Five months later, the defendant was taken into federal custody pursuant to the first detainer. The defendant admitted to violating the terms of his supervised release and was sentenced by the magistrate judge to an additional year in custody. The district court affirmed the revocation of supervised release and the imposition of an additional sentence. On. appeal, the defendant raised two similar issues to those raised by Neville but based the appeal on different statutory provisions.
.
. This section was originally enacted in 1986 as
. Although
.
shall be given
(A) written notice of the alleged violation;
(B) disclosure of the evidence against the person;
(C) an opportunity to appear and to present evidence in the person’s own behalf;
(D) the opportunity to question adverse witnesses; and
(E) notice of the person’s right to be represented by counsel.
.
The court may ... extend a term of supervised release if less than the maximum authorized term was previously imposed, and may modify, reduce, or enlarge the conditions of supervised release, at any time prior to the expiration or termination of the term of supervised release, pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure relating to the modification of probation and the provisions аpplicable to the initial setting of the terms and conditions of post-release supervision ....
. Similarly under the probation statute, the probationary term is not "extended” when a revocation hearing cannot be held until after the probationary term has expired: "[t]he power of the court to revoke a sentence of probation ... extends beyond the expiration of the term of probation....”
. Although the defendant in
Crane
made a similar argument comparing
.
[t]he power of the court to revoke a sentence of probation for violation of a condition of probation, and to impose another sentence, extends beyond the expiration of the term of probation for any period reasonably necessary for the adjudication of matters arising before its expiration, if, prior to its expiration, a warrant or summons has been issued on the basis of an allegation of such a violation, (emphasis added).
. This section was formerly
. Repealed by Pub.L. 98-473, § 212(а)(2), 98 Stat. 1987, effective Nov. 1, 1986.
. Under the old statute,
Section 3565(b) [now 3565(c) ] provides that revocation of probation or imposition of another sentence may occur after the term of probation has expired if a violation of a condition occurred prior to the expiration, if the adjudication occurs within a reasonable period of time, and if a warrant or summons on the basis of an allegation of such a violation was issued prior to the expiration of the term of probation. Thus, the section mоre narrowly restricts the time within which probation may be revoked than does current18 U.S.C. § 3653 which permits revocation at any time within the maximum period of five years regardless of the term initially imposed or the seriousness of the offense.
(emphasis added). Sen.Rep. No. 225, 98th Cong.2d Sess. reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3182, 3285-86.
. A bill pending before Congress would add a "Delayed Revocation” section to the supervised release statute. However, consideration of such a bill by Congress provides little guidance on whether jurisdiction extends past the end of the supervisory period under the present statutory scheme. The commentary accompanying the proposed bill explains only that "existing statutory law is silent.” 137 Cong.Rec. S 7769, 7772 (June 13, 1991) (judiciary committee explanation). Moreover, no matter what the committee explanation is, "the views of a subsequent Congress form a hazardous basis for inferring the intent of an earlier one."
Consumer Prod. Safety Comm’n v. GTE Sylvania, Inc.,
. Congress explicitly listed the requirements for valid consent.
.
. Note that consent clearly may be withdrawn in a civil case under