United States v. Duane Levering

441 F.3d 566, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 6577, 2006 WL 668222
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit·Decided March 17, 2006·No. 05-3094·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

SMITH, Circuit Judge.

Duane Levering pleaded guilty to knowingly using force to engage in a sexual act with T.E., a juvenile female who had attained her twelfth birthday but not her fourteenth birthday, and was at least four years younger than Levering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2241(c) and 1153. The district court 2 sentenced Levering to 87 months’ imprisonment and 5 years of supervised release with a special condition of supervised release prohibiting him from having any contact or residing with any female children under the age of 18, including his own children, unless he obtained prior, written approval from his probation officer. Levering appeals, challenging the validity of the special condition. We affirm.

I. Background

While with his 13-year-old cousin, T.E., and her sister, Levering asked T.E. to accompany him to their grandmother’s house, telling her that someone at the house wanted to see her. T.E. assumed *568 that Levering meant a friend who she had not seen in sometime. T.E. and her sister accompanied Levering until Levering explained that only T.E. could come with him. The sister protested but then relented.

While Levering and T.E. were walking, they observed a police car and ran and hid in some tall grass and trees. Levering then explained to T.E. that no friend was waiting at their grandmother’s house to see her. T.E. attempted to leave, but Levering stopped her and told her that he wanted to have sex. T.E. declined, reminding him that they were related. When T.E. again tried to leave, Levering grabbed her, removed her pants, laid on top of her, covered her mouth with his hands, and forced penetration. Levering ignored her pleas for him to stop.

T.E. then struck Levering in the head with a camera she was carrying in order to escape. She immediately told her sister about the rape. T.E. and her sister then went to the police station to report the. rape. Levering, however, was already at the police station, repeatedly telling the police officer that he had done something “really bad.”

Levering was subsequently charged with knowingly using force to engage in a sexual act with T.E., a juvenile female who had attained her twelfth birthday but not her fourteenth birthday, and was at least four years younger than Levering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2241(c) and 1153. After Levering pleaded guilty to the charge, the United States Probation Office prepared a presentenee report (“PSR”) that calculated Levering’s base offense level at 30 pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2A3.1(a). The PSR added a four-level enhancement for the use of violence pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2A3.1(b)(1). The probation officer justified the enhancement based on the victim’s statement that she fought with Levering during the sexual assault and hit him with a camera to escape. In addition, Levering’s clothing and the victim’s clothing showed evidence of a struggle because they were ripped and grass stained. A two-level enhancement was added pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2A3.1(b)(2)(B) because the victim had attained the age of twelve years but had yet to attain the age of sixteen. Levering, however, was credited with a three-level adjustment for acceptance of responsibility, resulting in a total offense level of 33. His offense level of 33, paired with a Criminal History Category I, resulted in a Guidelines imprisonment range of 135-168 months.

Pursuant to Rule 11(c)(1)(C) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the government and Levering stipulated that the four-level enhancement pursuant to § 2A3.1(b)(l) for use of violence should not apply. The stipulation reduced his total offense level to 29, resulting in an adjusted Guidelines range of 87-108 months.

The district court accepted the plea agreement and Levering’s plea of guilty. The district court, however, denied Levering’s request for a deviation from the Guidelines based on Levering’s diminished capacity and fetal alcohol syndrome.

The district court sentenced Levering to 87 months’ imprisonment and 5 years of supervised release. One of the special conditions of Levering’s supervised release was that Levering could “have no contact, nor reside with female children under the age of 18, including his own children, unless approved in advance and in writing by the probation officer in consultation with the treatment providers. The defendant must report all incidental contact with children to the probation officer and the treat *569 ment provider.” 3

While Levering did not have any children at the time of sentencing, the district court observed that if and when Levering did have children “all we need to do is have some interaction between him and the probation officer to make sure that everything’s in place so that there’s no problem.”

Levering appeals, arguing that the district court abused its discretion in imposing the special condition restricting his contact with female juveniles. In addition, Levering argues that the special condition constituted an improper delegation of the court’s authority to the probation officer.

II. Discussion

A. Imposition of a Special Condition

Levering first argues that the special condition prohibiting his contact with juvenile females is not reasonably related to the statutory sentencing goals and is a greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary to protect the public.

“It is fundamental that a district judge has wide discretion in formulating the terms of supervised release.” United States v. Bass, 121 F.3d 1218, 1223 (8th Cir.1997). The district court’s discretion, however, is limited by the requirement that the conditions be “reasonably related to § 3553(a) factors, involve no greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary, and are consistent with any pertinent policy statements issued by the United States Sentencing Commission.” United States v. Mickelson, 433 F.3d 1050, 1056 (8th Cir.2006). We review the district court’s imposition of special conditions of supervised release for abuse of discretion. Id.

While Levering argues that a total prohibition on contact with juvenile females is not reasonably related to the statutory sentencing goals and is a greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary to protect the public, wé have, on several occasions, approved “virtually identical supervised release conditions” for defendants guilty of less egregious conduct than Levering. See e.g., Mickelson,

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United States v. Duane Levering, 441 F.3d 566, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 6577, 2006 WL 668222 (8th Cir. 2006).

441 F.3d 566 (United States v. Duane Levering) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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