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United States v. Jermaine Pugh, 4th Cir. (2013)

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment that Jermaine Pugh violated his supervised release conditions. The district court found that the government provided sufficient evidence to prove the violations by a preponderance of the evidence. The appellate court also found that the district court did not err in sentencing Pugh to 24 months in prison for his violations, as his sentence was within statutory limits and the district court properly considered the relevant factors.

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93 views5 pages

United States v. Jermaine Pugh, 4th Cir. (2013)

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment that Jermaine Pugh violated his supervised release conditions. The district court found that the government provided sufficient evidence to prove the violations by a preponderance of the evidence. The appellate court also found that the district court did not err in sentencing Pugh to 24 months in prison for his violations, as his sentence was within statutory limits and the district court properly considered the relevant factors.

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UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS


FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 12-4645

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,


Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
JERMAINE PUGH,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Raleigh.
Terrence W. Boyle,
District Judge. (5:01-cr-00252-BO-1)

Submitted:

February 20, 2013

Decided:

March 13, 2013

Before WYNN, DIAZ, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Thomas P. McNamara, Federal Public Defender, Stephen C. Gordon,


Assistant Federal Public Defender, Raleigh, North Carolina, for
Appellant.
Thomas G. Walker, United States Attorney, Jennifer
P. May-Parker, Joshua L. Rogers, Assistant United States
Attorneys, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM:

judgment

Jermaine

Remerius

finding

he

Pugh

violated

appeals
his

the

district

conditions

of

courts

supervised

release, revoking his supervised release and sentencing him to


twenty-four months in prison.
court

abused

its

discretion

Pugh asserts that the district


when

it

revoked

his

supervised

release because he argues that the evidence did not show he


committed the violations of which he was accused.

Pugh also

asserts that his sentence is plainly unreasonable because the


district

court

was

not

authorized

to

consider

whether

the

sentence reflected the seriousness of the revocation offenses


under 18 U.S.C.A. 3583(e) (West 2000 & Supp. 2012).

Finding

no error, we affirm.
We review a district courts decision to revoke an
individuals supervised release for abuse of discretion.
States v. Pregent, 190 F.3d 279, 282 (4th Cir. 1999).

United

To revoke

supervised release, a district court need only find a violation


of a condition of supervised release by a preponderance of the
evidence.

18 U.S.C.A. 3583(e)(3) (West 2000 & Supp. 2012);

United States v. Copley, 978 F.2d 829, 831 (4th Cir. 1992).
This burden simply requires the trier of fact to believe that
the existence of a fact is more probable than its nonexistence.
United States v. Manigan, 592 F.3d 621, 631 (4th Cir. 2010)
(internal quotation marks omitted).
2

This

court

reviews

findings for clear error.


410 (4th Cir. 2010).
the

court

reviews

the

district

courts

factual

United States v. White, 620 F.3d 401,

A factual finding is clearly erroneous if


all

the

evidence

and

is

left

with

the

definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.


United States v. Harvey, 532 F.3d 326, 336-37 (4th Cir. 2008)
(internal quotation marks omitted).

It is not enough for us to

conclude we would have decided the case differently.

Anderson

v. City of Bessemer City, N.C., 470 U.S. 564, 573 (1985).

We

have reviewed the record and conclude that the district court
did not abuse its discretion when it found that the Governments
evidence established Pugh violated his supervised release.
We

also

discern

no

error

in

the

district

decision to impose a twenty-four-month sentence.

courts

This court

will affirm a sentence imposed after revocation of supervised


release if it is within the prescribed statutory range and is
not plainly unreasonable.
433,

438-40

(4th

Cir.

United States v. Crudup, 461 F.3d

2006).

While

district

court

must

consider the Chapter Seven policy statements, U.S. Sentencing


Guidelines Manual Ch. 7, Pt. B, and the statutory requirements
and factors applicable to revocation sentences under 3583(e)
and 18 U.S.C.A. 3553(a) (West 2000 & Supp. 2012), the district
court

ultimately

has

broad

discretion

to

revoke

supervised

release and impose a term of imprisonment up to the statutory


maximum.

Crudup, 461 F.3d at 438-39.


A

supervised

procedurally

reasonable

release
if

the

revocation

district

court

sentence

is

considered

the

Chapter 7 advisory policy statements and the 3553(a) factors


it is permitted to consider in a supervised release revocation
case.

See 18 U.S.C.A. 3583(e); Crudup, 461 F.3d at 439-40.

And although the district court need not explain the reasons for
imposing a revocation sentence in as much detail as when it
imposes an original sentence, it still must provide a statement
of

reasons

for

the

sentence

imposed.

United

States

v.

Thompson, 595 F.3d 544, 547 (4th Cir. 2010) (internal quotation
marks

omitted).

reasonable

if

the

revocation

district

court

sentence

is

stated

proper

substantively
basis

for

concluding the defendant should receive the sentence imposed, up


to the statutory maximum.
sentence

is

found

Crudup, 461 F.3d at 440.

procedurally

or

substantively

Only if a

unreasonable

will this court then decide whether the sentence is plainly


unreasonable.
the

record

Id. at 439 (emphasis omitted).

and

have

considered

discern no sentencing error.

the

We have reviewed

parties

arguments

and

We therefore conclude that Pughs

sentence is not plainly unreasonable.


Accordingly, we affirm the district courts judgment.
We

dispense

with

oral

argument
4

because

the

facts

and

legal

contentions

are

adequately

presented

in

the

materials

before

this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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