United States v. Sung Kim

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Decided: December 20, 2018
• Docket: 17-30225
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION DEC 20 2018 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 17-30225

Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. 2:10-cr-00270-JCC-1 v.

SUNG HO KIM, MEMORANDUM*

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington John C. Coughenour, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted December 7, 2018 Seattle, Washington

Before: W. FLETCHER and BYBEE, Circuit Judges, and BURNS,** District Judge.

Sung Ho Kim pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud, in violation of 18

U.S.C. § 1344, and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C.

§ 1028A, and was sentenced to 36 months imprisonment and 5 years of supervised

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The Honorable Larry A. Burns, United States District Judge for the Southern District of California, sitting by designation. release. His term of supervised release will expire on April 3, 2019. In October

2017, Kim filed a motion for early termination of his term of supervised release.

We review the district court’s denial of Kim’s motion for abuse of discretion.

United States v. Emmett, 749 F.3d 817, 819 (9th Cir. 2014).

A district court may grant early termination of supervised release if, after

considering a subset of the sentencing factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), “it

is satisfied that such action is warranted by the conduct of the defendant released

and the interest of justice.” 18 U.S.C § 3583(e)(1). The district applied this legal

standard. It cited to 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e) and summarized the relevant § 3553(a)

factors, and its findings that Kim demonstrated neither a change in circumstances

nor exceptionally good behavior are best interpreted as relevant to a determination

under 18 U.S.C § 3583(e) that early termination would not serve the interest of

justice. Emmett, 749 F.3d at 820.

The district court adequately explained its reasons for denying Kim’s

motion. “[T]he district court need not give an elaborate explanation of its reasons

for accepting or rejecting [Kim’s] arguments.” Id. at 821-22. An explanation is

adequate if it “permit[s] meaningful appellate review and justif[ies] the court’s

conclusion in light of the parties’ nonfrivolous arguments and the legal standard.”

Id. at 822. Here, the district court explained its decision in a three-page written

2 order that articulated its reasons for concluding that “the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)

factors and the interests of justice do not support Kim’s request for early

termination of his supervised release.” Cf. Emmett, 749 F.3d at 819, 822 (vacating

and remanding where the district court stated only that “[d]efendant has not

provided any reason demonstrating that continuing supervised release imposes any

undue hardship on defendant”).

AFFIRMED.