United States v. Patton

118 F. App'x 427
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedDecember 9, 2004
Docket04-6142
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 118 F. App'x 427 (United States v. Patton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Patton, 118 F. App'x 427 (10th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT **

ROBERT H. HENRY, Circuit Judge.

Susie Jane Patton appeals the district court’s order revoking her probation on a prior conviction and sentencing her to thirty-six months’ incarceration, followed by twenty-four months’ supervised release. We affirm the district court’s decision.

I. BACKGROUND

In October 2003,' Ms. Patton pleaded guilty to one count of falsely representing and using another person’s social security number as her own, a violation of 42 U.S.C. § 408(a)(7)(B) and 18 U.S.C. § 2(b). The district court sentenced Ms. Patton to five years’ probation. One of the conditions of probation was that Ms. Patton not commit another federal, state, or local crime.

In April 2004, the United States Probation Office filed a Petition for Warrant or Summons for Offender Under Supervision. The Petition alleged that, on March 6-7, 2004, Ms. Patton had violated a condition of probation by committing the state crime of possessing a credit card belonging to another person, after former conviction of a felony. According to the Petition, Ms. Patton had been charged with that offense in Cleveland County, Oklahoma District *429 Court. The government also alleged that Ms. Patton had failed to notify her federal probation officer of her arrest on the credit card charge.

The district court conducted an evidentiary hearing on the Petition. United States Probation Officer Michelle Mathews testified that Ms. Patton was aware of the conditions of probation and that the state court charge had been filed against Ms. Patton in Cleveland County, Oklahoma District Court on March 10, 2004. The probation officer explained that the credit card allegedly possessed by Ms. Patton belonged to Maxine Moore, who is the mother of Robert Moore, Ms. Patton’s former boyfriend.

At the hearing, the government also introduced a copy of Ms. Moore’s credit card statement for transactions between February 12 and March 2, 2004. The statement includes charges to a drug store on February 13, 2004, a $1,176.23 charge to an electronics store on February 18, 2004, and a charge to a meat market on February 25, 2004. Additionally, the government introduced a surveillance photograph taken at the drug store on February 13, 2004. The photograph shows Ms. Patton standing near the counter.

Ms. Moore also testified at the evidentiary hearing. She stated that, on March 6, 2004, she noticed that her credit card was missing from the night stand in her bedroom. Upon calling the credit card company, she discovered approximately $2,000 in unauthorized charges. Although Mr. Moore lived at his mother’s house at that time, Ms. Moore testified that he had never used her credit card. According to Ms. Moore, Ms. Patton often visited her house and thus could have obtained the credit card.

Ms. Moore further testified that Ms. Patton had admitted to making some of the unauthorized charges. In particular, Ms. Moore reported that she had received a phone message from Ms. Patton in which Ms. Patton stated that she would return a sound system to an electronics store. Ms. Patton also told Ms. Moore that she had gone to a meat market and purchased three roasts, one for Ms. Moore, one for Ms. Patton’s mother, and one for herself.

Finally, Mr. Moore testified at the evidentiary hearing. He denied making any of the charges on Ms. Moore’s credit card in February and March 2004. He stated that he had received an e-mail message from Ms. Patton in which she said that she had tried to contact Ms. Moore by phone to apologize. Ms. Patton’s e-mail message also referred to the purchase from the electronics store, stating that “I have also been told to return the speakers & amp so that there is a large credit on the account.” Rec. doc. 25, ex. 4.

According to Mr. Moore, when his mother discovered that her credit card was missing, he confronted Ms. Patton. She apologized to him and said that she would put a check in the mail to pay for the charges.

The district court found.that Ms. Patton had violated the conditions of her probation by (1) possessing Ms. Moore’s credit card and using it to make purchases without authorization, and (2) failing to notify her federal probation officer within seventy-two hours of her contact with state law enforcement.

The court noted that Ms. Patton had committed the credit card offense shortly after receiving probation on the initial charge:

[T]he conduct of the Defendant in this particular instance [is] fairly outrageous. The reason for that is that literally, within hours of this Defendant standing before this Court and representing that the Court would not see her again, the *430 Court, after hearing the statements made at that sentencing hearing, gave this defendant a five-year probationary period.
Within hours of that, literally, the Defendant ... was out ... using the credit card of Ms. Maxine Moore, which she had no authority to use.
The Court finds that there is more than enough for this court to find by a preponderance of the evidence that this Defendant’s supervised release should be revoked.

Rec. vol. IV, at 11-12.

II. DISCUSSION

On appeal, Ms. Patton argues that the evidence is insufficient to support the revocation of her probation. She also argues that the sentence of thirty-six months’ incarceration is excessive.

We review a decision to revoke probation for fundamental unfairness or for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Reber, 876 F.2d 81, 83 (10th Cir.1989). “Probation may be revoked if the ... court is reasonably satisfied that a violation of probation conditions has occurred.” Id. The court may base its decision upon a preponderance of the evidence. See United States v. Bujak, 347 F.3d 607, 609 (6th Cir.2003) (holding that “the preponderance of the evidence standard ... applies to determinations of whether a probationer has violated a condition of probation”). As for the sentence imposed following revocation of probation, we will not reverse if it can be determined from the record that the sentence is “reasoned and reasonable.” United States v. Brooks, 976 F.2d 1358, 1361 (10th Cir.1992).

A. Sufficiency of the Evidence

In challenging the sufficiency of the evidence, Ms. Patton asserts that it was Mr. Moore who used Ms. Moore’s credit card. She further contends that the Moores fabricated their testimony against her.

We are not persuaded by Ms. Patton’s arguments, which are not supported by evidence in the record. The Moores’ testimony and the government’s documentary evidence, particularly the credit card statement and the surveillance photograph of Ms.

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118 F. App'x 427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-patton-ca10-2004.