Sentencing – Supervised release – conditions

Listen to this article

U.S. Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Sentencing – Supervised release – conditions

A sentencing court cannot impose the standard conditions of supervised release without explanation.

“The standard conditions are not mandatory; a sentencing judge needn’t impose them, or may if he prefers impose them in modified form. A sensible alternative to the language of standard condition 9 would be: ‘the defendant shall not meet, communicate, or otherwise interact with a person whom he knows to be engaged, or planning to be engaged, in criminal activity.’”

“In addition to considering the proper wording of the conditions he imposes, a sentencing judge must (as we said) include all the conditions he is imposing in his oral sentence, must give reasons for imposing them, and must consider the propriety of imposing them in light of the sentencing factors listed in 18 U.S.C.§ 3553(a), which apply to all nonmandatory aspects of the sentence, including conditions of supervised release. United States v. Goodwin, supra, 717 F.3d at 523– 26; United States v. Monteiro, 270 F.3d 465, 472–73 (7th Cir. 2001). None of that was done in this case.”

Affirmed in part, and Vacated in part.

13-3577 U.S. v. McMillian

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Clevert, J., Posner, J.

Full Text