United States v. Jesus Garza

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in United States v. Jesus Garza. Read the opinion of the Court — 706 F.3d 655
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided February 15, 2013·No. 11-10543·Published

Opinion

REVISED FEBRUARY 15, 2013

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

FILED

No. 11-10543 February 1, 2013

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.

JESUS JAVIER GARZA,

Defendant–Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Before DeMOSS, OWEN, and HAYNES, Circuit Judges. PRISCILLA R. OWEN, Circuit Judge:

Jesus Javier Garza violated the conditions of his supervised release and was sentenced to twenty-four months of imprisonment to be followed by twenty- four months of supervised release. On appeal, Garza argues that the district court improperly considered his rehabilitative needs in determining the length of his prison sentence in violation of Tapia v. United States,1 which held that “a court may not impose or lengthen a prison sentence to enable an offender to

1 131 S. Ct. 2382 (2011).

complete a treatment program or otherwise to promote rehabilitation.”2 We vacate and remand for resentencing.

I

Garza pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and was sentenced to fifty-five months in prison to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release. Garza began serving that term of supervised release on August 1, 2008. When Garza allegedly violated a number of the conditions of his supervised release, the Government filed a motion to revoke supervised release pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e).

At his revocation hearing, Garza pleaded true to all of the factual allegations in the Government’s motion to revoke, with one exception, and the court revoked Garza’s supervised release. Although the advisory Sentencing Guidelines range was three to nine months of imprisonment, the district court imposed a sentence of twenty-four months in prison, to be followed by a twenty- four month term of supervised release. In the course of imposing this sentence, the district court extensively discussed the rehabilitation opportunities that prison terms of varying lengths would afford Garza. This appeal followed.

II

A threshold question in this appeal is whether 18 U.S.C. § 3582(a) applies to revocation sentences. In Tapia, the Supreme Court held that, under § 3582(a), a sentencing court “may not impose or lengthen a prison sentence to enable an offender to complete a treatment program or otherwise to promote rehabilitation.”3 However, Tapia was an appeal of a sentence imposed for the initial conviction, and although our court has assumed that its holding extends

2 Tapia, 131 S. Ct. at 2393.

3 Id.

to the revocation context,4 we have never so held. The Government concedes that Tapia applies to revocation sentences, and we agree. In so holding, we join the uniform post-Tapia case law in our sister circuits.5 The factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) that a district court should consider in imposing a sentence apply when supervised release is revoked.6 These factors include “the need for the sentence imposed . . . to provide the defendant with needed educational or vocational training, medical care, or other correctional treatment in the most effective manner.”7 However, with regard to determining if imprisonment should be imposed as part of a sentence and if so, the length of the term of imprisonment, § 3582(a) directs a district court to “recogniz[e] that imprisonment is not an appropriate means of promoting correction and rehabilitation.”8 The wording and context of § 3582(a) persuades us that it applies in the revocation context. First, in the same sentence in § 3582(a) that admonishes courts that they cannot use imprisonment as a means of correction or

4 E.g., United States v. Receskey, 699 F.3d 807, 810 (5th Cir. 2012).

5 United States v. Bennett, 698 F.3d 194 (4th Cir. 2012); United States v. Mendiola, 696 F.3d 1033 (10th Cir. 2012); United States v. Taylor, 679 F.3d 1005 (8th Cir. 2012); United States v. Grant, 664 F.3d 276 (9th Cir. 2011); United States v. Molignaro, 649 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2011) (Souter, J. (Ret.), sitting by designation); see also United States v. Jackson, 477 F. App’x 377 (6th Cir. 2012) (applying Tapia to a revocation sentence without discussion of its applicability); United States v. Williams, 467 F. App’x 59 (2d Cir. 2012) (assuming without deciding that Tapia applies to revocation sentences). The only outlier was our own decision in United States v. Breland, 647 F.3d 284 (5th Cir. 2011), which the Supreme Court vacated, 132 S. Ct. 1096 (2012) (mem.), and in which case we ultimately remanded for resentencing, 463 F. App’x 376, 376-77 (5th Cir. 2012). Although we need not today revisit our prior decision in United States v. Giddings, 37 F.3d 1091 (5th Cir. 1994), which held that § 3582(a) does not apply to mandatory revocation while expressly reserving the question of whether the statute applied to discretionary revocation, we note that Tapia casts substantial doubt on the continuing vitality of Giddings’s holding.

6 See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(4)(B).

7 Id. § 3553(a)(2)(D).

8 Id. § 3582(a).

rehabilitation, Congress directs courts to consider the factors set forth in § 3553(a) “to the extent they are applicable.”9 As already noted, a sentence imposed for a violation of supervised release comes within § 3553(a), and a court is directed by § 3553(a)(3) and (a)(4)(B) to consider the kinds of sentences available and the applicable sentencing range established by the Guidelines or the Commission’s policy statements.10 This would include a term of imprisonment, if available. It therefore stands to reason that the subsequent part of the phrasing in § 3582(a) that prohibits consideration of rehabilitative needs applies to a prison term imposed upon revocation of supervised release.

Second, § 3582(a) is quite clear: “imprisonment is not an appropriate means of promoting correction and rehabilitation.”11 The phrasing of this statute does not suggest that it applies only when a sentence is imposed for the underlying conviction but that in the revocation context, promoting rehabilitation can be considered in deciding whether to impose a prison sentence and if so, the length of confinement.12 While it is true that the statute

9 Section 3582(a), titled “Factors to be considered in imposing a term of imprisonment,”

states as follows:

The court, in determining whether to impose a term of imprisonment, and, if a term of imprisonment is to be imposed, in determining the length of the term, shall consider the factors set forth in section 3553(a) to the extent that they are applicable, recognizing that imprisonment is not an appropriate means of promoting correction and rehabilitation. In determining whether to make a recommendation concerning the type of prison facility appropriate for the defendant, the court shall consider any pertinent policy statements issued by the Sentencing Commission pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 994(a)(2).

Id.

10 Id. § 3553(a)(3), (a)(4)(B).

11 Id. § 3582(a) (emphasis added).

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