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UNITED STATES v. LEWIS (2021)

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.2021-07-20No. No. 20-4530

Summary

Holding. The court vacated Lewis's sentence and remanded the case for resentencing because the district court failed to orally pronounce discretionary conditions of supervised release at the sentencing hearing that were later included in the written judgment.

Rodney Lewis pleaded guilty to methamphetamine distribution and firearm possession in furtherance of drug trafficking. The district court sentenced him to 195 months in prison and five years of supervised release, but included discretionary conditions of supervised release in the written judgment that were not announced orally at the sentencing hearing. Lewis appealed, challenging both an obstruction-of-justice sentencing enhancement and the unannounced conditions. The government sought to dismiss parts of the appeal based on Lewis's plea agreement waiver but conceded the sentencing court's failure to pronounce the supervised release conditions.

The appellate court determined that federal law requires a sentencing judge to orally announce any discretionary conditions of supervised release in open court; merely including them in written form or attempting to incorporate them by reference is insufficient. Because the district court failed to announce certain discretionary conditions related to Lewis's finances at the sentencing hearing, the court could not reach his other arguments regarding the sentencing guidelines calculation.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether discretionary supervised release conditions must be orally pronounced at sentencing
  • Whether incorporation by reference satisfies the requirement for announcing supervised release conditions
  • Whether an appellate waiver bars consideration of sentencing guidelines challenges when sentencing procedural defects are present

Procedural posture

Lewis appealed his sentence following a guilty plea conviction, challenging both the district court's sentencing guidelines application and the conditions of supervised release imposed.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

Rodney Latrell Lewis pled guilty to distribution of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2 and 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A), and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A). The district court sentenced Lewis to 195 months’ imprisonment and 5 years’ supervised release. On appeal, Lewis challenges the district courts application of an offense level enhancement for obstruction of justice under the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and the courts imposition of discretionary conditions of supervised release in the written judgment that were not announced at sentencing. The Government has filed a motion to remand in part and dismiss in part, conceding that the court failed to properly pronounce Lewis’ supervised release conditions but arguing that Lewis’ Guidelines argument is barred by the appellate waiver in his plea agreement. For the reasons that follow, we deny the Governments motion, vacate Lewis’ sentence, and remand for resentencing.

“[I]n order to sentence a defendant to a non-mandatory condition of supervised release, the sentencing court must include that condition in its oral pronouncement of a defendants sentence in open court.” United States v. Singletary, 984 F.3d 341, 345 (4th Cir. 2021); see United States v. Rogers, 961 F.3d 291, 296-98 (4th Cir. 2020). We have reviewed the record and conclude that the district court did not pronounce at Lewis’ sentencing hearing some of the discretionary conditions of supervised release that were included in the written judgment. Further, “while a district court may incorporate by reference a condition or set of conditions during a hearing,” that did not occur here with respect to two discretionary conditions related to Lewis’ finances. Singletary, 984 F.3d at 346.

Where, as here, the district court fails to include in its oral pronouncement at the sentencing hearing nonmandatory conditions of supervised release that it subsequently includes in the written judgment, “the remedy ․ is to vacate the sentence and remand for the district court to resentence [the defendant].” Id. at 346. Thus, we “need not and should not proceed further to reach” whether Lewis’ appellate waiver bars his challenge to the courts Guidelines calculations. Id. at 344.

Accordingly, we deny the Governments motion, vacate Lewis’ sentence, and remand for resentencing. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

VACATED AND REMANDED

PER CURIAM:

Vacated and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.