United States v. Shanika Davis

579 F. App'x 146
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedSeptember 16, 2014
Docket14-1147
StatusUnpublished

This text of 579 F. App'x 146 (United States v. Shanika Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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. Shanika Davis, 579 F. App'x 146 (3d Cir. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

SHWARTZ, Circuit Judge.

Shanika Davis appeals the District Court’s fifteen-month prison sentence for her violation of probation. She argues that the District Court erred in considering conduct other than that to which she admitted and as a result imposed a procedurally unreasonable sentence. We disagree and will affirm.

I

As we write primarily for the benefit of the parties, we recite only the essential facts and procedural history. On May 8, 2006, Davis pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York to criminal charges arising from her straw purchase of a firearm. 1 Davis fled from bail supervision and was not sentenced until February 2009. She was sentenced to two years’ probation. Davis absconded from her probation supervision in October 2009 and remained a fugitive until May 2011. Davis’s case and supervision were transferred to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and on June 1, 2011, that Court found that Davis had violated probation and re-sentenced her to three years’ probation, beginning with six months’ home confinement. Two months later, Davis’s case and supervision were once again transferred, this time to the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Davis violated her probation again, and in January 2012, the District Court there sentenced her to an additional six months’ home confinement.

In April 2013, Davis was again arrested for violating conditions of probation. According to the “Petition for Warrant or Summons for Offender Under Supervision” (“the Petition”), Davis allegedly had been convicted of receiving a stolen pistol, fraudulently obtaining food stamps and welfare benefits, and issuing bad checks while on probation. The Petition also alleged that Davis had committed numerous “technical violations” including possessing drugs, failing to report to her probation officer, failing to respond honestly to inquiries from her probation officer, removing her location monitoring transmitter, and associating with Rashawn Collier, a known felon. At the violation hearing, Davis admitted to having been convicted of the state crimes, which constituted Grade B violations, but did not admit to the technical violations, and the Government did not introduce any additional evidence relating to them. Davis’s counsel did, however, acknowledge that Davis had associated with Collier.

Davis’s Guidelines range was four to ten months’ imprisonment. The Government moved for an upward variance from Davis’s calculated Guidelines range based on (1) Davis’s inability to comply with the terms of her probation, (2) the fact that *148 drugs were found in her home, and (8) her possession of the stolen pistol.

The District Court granted the Government’s motion and sentenced Davis to fifteen months’ imprisonment, five months above her Guidelines range. Explaining the chosen sentence, the District Court said:

Ms. Davis has been completely incorrigible and displayed a blatant disregard for the conditions of two separate supervisions. Less than three months after appearing before this Court and being warned of the consequences of further noncompliance, police apprehended a fugitive, Rashawn Collier, from inside the offender’s residence. Drugs, grow materials, and [a] stolen firearm were seized.
Ms. Davis removed her location monitoring transmitter claiming medical issues and visited Mr. Collier at SCI Camp Hill. Plus Ms. Davis placed hundreds of telephone calls with Collier and deposited money into his prison account. This was in violation of an admonition from this Court. This conduct clearly illustrates the offender’s failure to favorably respond to all the opportunities extended to her from the start of her federal case.
And the Court does recognize that she has been convicted of welfare fraud and bad checks while under supervision and she has also been a fugitive at times. The offender failed to honestly respond to even basic inquiries from the probation office.
Now there is a strong need for [the] sentence imposed to provide adequate punishment for Ms. Davis’s violation and to deter from future crimes. At the time of her original sentence, this Court departed downward. Plus Ms. Davis twice had her probation revoked, but managed to avoid imprisonment. An upward departure, the Court believes, is warranted.

App. 26-27.

Davis appeals her sentence, arguing that her sentence is procedurally unreasonable because the District Court relied partly on the technical violations concerning (1) the fact that drugs were found in her home; (2) her failure to respond honestly to her probation officer; and (3) her removal of her location monitoring transmitter. 2 Davis contends that the District Court erred in relying on these allegations because Davis did not admit to them and she claims they lack evidentiary support.

II

The District Court had jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3231. We have appellate jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a).

As Davis did not object to the District Court’s reference to Davis’s technical violations at sentencing, we review the sentence for plain error. Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b). Under the plain error standard, we will affirm the sentence unless the appellant demonstrates: (1) an error; (2) that is clear and obvious; and (3) that affects substantial rights. Puckett v. United States, 556 U.S. 129, 135, 129 S.Ct. 1423, 173 L.Ed.2d 266 (2009); United States v. Vazquez, 271 F.3d 93, 99 (3d Cir.2001). If all three prongs are satisfied, then the Court has the discretion to remedy the error only if the error “seriously affect[s] the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” Puckett, 556 U.S. *149 at 135, 129 S.Ct. 1423 (quotation marks omitted); United States v. Stinson, 734 F.3d 180, 184 (3d Cir.2013).

Ill

To address Davis’s claim, we must determine whether it was error for the District Court to rely on information in the Petition. While the information in the Petition is hearsay, hearsay statements are admissible at sentencing so long as the statements “bear some minimal indicium of reliability beyond mere allegation.” United States v. Smith, 751 F.3d 107, 116 (3d Cir.2014) (quotation marks omitted). The statements contained in the Petition satisfy that standard.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Puckett v. United States
556 U.S. 129 (Supreme Court, 2009)
United States v. Alex Vazquez
271 F.3d 93 (Third Circuit, 2001)
United States v. Robert Stinson, Jr.
734 F.3d 180 (Third Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Lloyd
566 F.3d 341 (Third Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Allen Smith
751 F.3d 107 (Third Circuit, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
579 F. App'x 146, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-shanika-davis-ca3-2014.