Supervised Release- Sentencing Authority

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Jerid Hinz

Case No.: 25-2118

Officials: Jackson-Akiwumi, Lee, and Taibleson, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Supervised Release- Sentencing Authority

After being convicted of distributing methamphetamine, Hinz was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release. After his release, Hinz repeatedly violated the conditions of supervision, including using methamphetamine, failing to appear for required drug testing, and failing to maintain lawful employment. The court revoked his supervised release on two occasions. The second revocation arose from violations occurring in late 2024 and early 2025, including multiple positive drug tests and an attempt to submit fake urine for testing. Hinz was also arrested in February 2025 following a shooting incident, but those charges were later dismissed and were referenced at sentencing in connection with an earlier state-court case.

The Western District of Wisconsin revoked Hinz’s supervised release and sentenced him to 24 months in prison, the statutory maximum, with no further term of supervised release. At the revocation hearing, the court expressly stated that it was not relying on unproven allegations concerning gun possession or the shooting. Instead, the court based its sentence on the violations Hinz admitted. In its written judgment, however, the court also imposed a condition requiring Hinz to register with local law enforcement and the state attorney general before his release.

The Seventh Circuit concluded that the district court had not relied on inaccurate or unproven allegations in imposing Hinz’s prison sentence. It nevertheless found that the district court exceeded its authority by imposing a registration requirement that would take effect after Hinz’s imprisonment, because no supervised release term would follow his prison sentence. The Seventh Circuit therefore struck the registration requirement from the judgment.

Affirmed.

Decided 08/13/26

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