United States v. Billy Earle

364 F. App'x 211
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 4, 2010
Docket09-5958
StatusUnpublished

This text of 364 F. App'x 211 (United States v. Billy Earle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Billy Earle, 364 F. App'x 211 (6th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

HELENE N. WHITE, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellant Billy Roy Earle (“Earle”) appeals the district court’s finding that he violated the conditions of his supervised release, and the reasonableness of the sentence imposed. We affirm.

I. Background

After serving a period of incarceration for stealing pain-killers from the mail, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1709, Earle began a three-year term of supervised release on August 17, 2007. On June 16, 2009, a probation officer conducted a home visit and requested that Earle provide proof that he was not violating the terms of the prescription for his medication. Earle provided the officer with a prescription bottle for hydrocodone obtained through a prescription that was filled on June 6, *212 2009. According to the prescription label, the bottle should have contained sixty 7.5 milligram tablets to be taken twice a day (i.e., a thirty-day supply). Although only ten days had elapsed since the prescription was filled, the bottle was empty. Earle told the probation officer that he “was ‘eating’ more pills than he should have been,” and therefore he had flushed the remaining pills down the toilet on June 13, 2009. Earle further explained to the officer that he sometimes went two to three days without taking any pills, and on some days he took three or four pills.

On June 22, 2009, Earle reported to the Probation Office for a follow-up visit. During the visit, Earle disclosed that he had consumed hydrocodone since the home visit. He explained that he had obtained the hydrocodone from an old prescription bottle that he kept at work, to which he had transferred some pills from the most recent prescription.

Based on these admissions, the Probation Office submitted a supervised release violation report to the district court alleging that Earle violated the conditions of his supervised release by using a controlled substance other than in a manner prescribed by a physician, 1 and by violating a state law against keeping a prescription in a container other than that in which it was delivered to him. 2

At the initial hearing on the alleged supervised release violations, the district court confirmed that Earle and his attorney had received a copy of the Violation Report and had reviewed the alleged violations. The district court then informed Earle of his right to a formal hearing. Earle’s attorney informed the court that Earle would stipulate to the report’s allegations without a formal hearing. The court then addressed Earle directly:

Mr. Earle, your attorney has indicated that you wish to waive a formal hearing, at which time evidence could be presented, and have the court make a determination based on the two violations, the acknowledgment that those violations have occurred.
Is that the way you wish to proceed? Do you wish to acknowledge the violations have occurred, without a formal hearing?

After conferring with counsel, Earle responded “Yes, sir.”

In discussing Earle’s sentence, the district court noted that Earle’s improper use of hydrocodone “present[s] a danger, both to Mr. Earle as well as to others,” especially because he had performed manual labor while abusing the drug. The court rejected Earle’s request for a sentence of home detention, stating it believed Earle would continue to abuse the medication while at home. The court then stated that it had considered the “circumstances in the case,” “all of the factors that are relevant *213 under Section 3553” including “the need to reflect the seriousness of the offense, promote respect for the law ... provide a just punishment” and “deterrence and the need to protect the public and providing education, training, or other corrective treatment,” and imposed a within-Guidelines sentence of six months. The court then asked if there was any objection to the sentence the first offense and a Class A misdemeanor for subsequent offenses, imposed or the proceedings pursuant to United States v. Bostic, 371 F.3d 865 (6th Cir.2004), to which Earle’s attorney responded “No objections, your Honor.”

II. Analysis

Earle first claims that the district court erred in finding that he violated the terms of his supervised release. However, this claim was waived.

“Waiver is the ‘intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right,’ and these rights are not reviewable.” United States v. Aparco-Centeno, 280 F.3d 1084, 1088 (6th Cir.2002) (quoting United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 732-33, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993)). “An attorney cannot agree in open court with a judge’s proposed course of conduct and then charge the court with error in following that course.” Aparco-Centeno, 280 F.3d at 1088 (quoting United States v. Sloman, 909 F.2d 176, 182 (6th Cir.1990)). Here, the district court inquired whether Earle wished to have a hearing on the alleged violations of his supervised release, to which his counsel replied that Earle would “stipulate to the factual allegations in the violation packet and move [to] fore-go the final hearing.” Any doubt whether the stipulation was to the actual violation or simply to the underlying facts was clarified by the court’s inquiry whether Earle wished “to acknowledge the violations have occurred,” and his affirmative answer. Further, after this concession, defense counsel’s argument was addressed to Earle’s sentence, not whether his conduct constituted a violation of probation. 3 Thus, Earle has waived the argument that he did not violate his supervised release.

Earle also claims that the sentence imposed was unreasonably long. We disagree. “[A] district court may revoke a defendant’s term of supervised release and require the defendant to serve a new term of imprisonment pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e).” United States v. Polihonki, 543 F.3d 318, 322 (6th Cir.2008). A district court’s sentence on revocation of supervised release is reviewed for substantive and procedural reasonableness. Id.

A district court commits significant procedural error by “failing to calculate (or improperly calculating) the Guidelines range, treating the Guidelines as mandatory, failing to consider the § 3553(a) factors, selecting a sentence based on clearly erroneous facts, or failing to adequately explain the chosen sentence — including an explanation for any deviation from the Guidelines range.” Id.

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Related

United States v. Olano
507 U.S. 725 (Supreme Court, 1993)
Gall v. United States
552 U.S. 38 (Supreme Court, 2007)
United States v. Javier Aparco-Centeno
280 F.3d 1084 (Sixth Circuit, 2002)
United States v. Henry A. Bostic
371 F.3d 865 (Sixth Circuit, 2004)
United States v. Samuel F. Collington
461 F.3d 805 (Sixth Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Polihonki
543 F.3d 318 (Sixth Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Wilms
495 F.3d 277 (Sixth Circuit, 2007)

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364 F. App'x 211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-billy-earle-ca6-2010.