United States v. Feigenbaum

99 F. App'x 782
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided May 19, 2004·No. No. 02-30330·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM *

Appellant Bradford P. Feigenbaum pleaded guilty to one count of attempted transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2423(a) and 2. In this appeal, Feigenbaum argues that he was sentenced under the wrong edition of the Sentencing Guidelines and that five of his conditions of supervised release involve a greater deprivation of liberty than reasonably necessary. We review Feigenbaum’s challenges to his sentence and to conditions of supervised release 4, 5, 6, and 9 for plain error because he failed to raise these challenges before the district court. See United States v. Rearden, 349 F.3d 608, 618 (9th Cir.2003). We review Feigenbaum’s challenge to condition of supervised release 10 for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Britt, 332 F.3d 1229, 1231 (9th Cir.2003). Because we conclude [784] that Feigenbaum was sentenced under the wrong Sentencing Guidelines and because condition 10 may involve a greater deprivation of liberty than reasonably necessary, we vacate his sentence and remand for resentencing.

Feigenbaum was sentenced under the November 2001 Sentencing Guidelines even though the conduct for which he was convicted occurred in June, July, and August 2001. The government concedes that use of the November 2001 Guidelines violated the Ex Post Facto clause and agrees that Feigenbaum should be resentenced because those Guidelines increased the base offense level for the crime for which Feigenbaum was sentenced. The error was plain and prejudiced Feigenbaum. See United States v. Chea, 231 F.3d 531, 539 (9th Cir.2000). Cf. United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 734, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993). We therefore exercise our discretion to vacate his sentence and remand for resentencing under the Guidelines in effect at the time of the offense. See Olano, at 735-37.

We find no error in the district court’s decision not to state its reasons for imposing the conditions of supervised release. Because the connection between Feigenbaum’s crime and the conditions of his supervised release is clear from the record, the district court was not required to articulate its reasons for imposing each condition. Rearden, 349 F.3d at 618-19.

We find no plain error in the imposition of conditions 4 and 6 of Feigenbaum’s supervised release. These conditions require Feigenbaum to participate in a mental health/sex offender treatment program and leave to the probation officer only the discretion necessary to oversee and define the contours of the treatment. This delegation of authority to the probation officer is within permissible limits. See id. at 619. The authorization of plethysmograph testing does not amount to plain error. Although we have held that such testing is insufficiently reliable for admission into evidence under the standard of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993), we have observed that “courts have accepted that penile plethysmographs can help in the treatment and monitoring of sex offenders.” Glanzer v. Glanzer, 232 F.3d 1258, 1266 (9th Cir.2000).

We also find no plain error in the imposition of conditions 5 and 9 of Feigenbaum’s supervised release. These conditions are broad, but in cases involving sexual abuse of minors, “even very broad conditions are reasonable if they are intended to promote the probationer’s rehabilitation and to protect the public.” United States v. Bee, 162 F.3d 1232, 1236 (9th Cir.1998). In Bee, we upheld a condition of supervised release that prohibited a defendant from having “contact with children under the age of 18 unless approved by [his] probation officer.” Id. at 1235-36. Here, condition 5’s prohibition of “unsupervised contact, direct or indirect” with minors is no broader than Bee’s prohibition of all contact whatsoever without permission. We also conclude that condition 9 provides Feigenbaum with adequate notice of prohibited conduct. In Bee, we upheld a sentencing condition that prohibited the defendant from “loiterpng] within 100 feet of school yards, parks, playgrounds, arcades, or other places primarily used by children under the age of 18.” Id. at 1235. There is no more overbreadth or vagueness inherent in the phrase “places primarily used by children under the age of 18” than there is in “places where minors are known to frequent.”

We decline to review Feigenbaum’s claim that trial counsel was ineffective for [785] fading to raise objections to conditions 4, 5, 6, and 9. The record, which contains no indication of counsel’s reasons for failing to object, is insufficiently developed to permit review and determination of counsel’s competence. See United States v. Daychild, 357 F.3d 1082, 1095 (9th Cir.2004).

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United States v. Feigenbaum, 99 F. App'x 782 (9th Cir. 2004).

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