United States v. White

While on supervised release following his conviction for failing to register as a sex offender, White pleaded guilty to new charges of credit‐card fraud and theft. The court revoked White’s supervised release and ordered him re-imprisoned for 20 months, consecutive to the term for the new charges. White argued that the prosecutor and probation officer made inaccurate statements during the revocation hearing by: without evidence, challenging White’s version of the facts underlying his sex offense and his conviction for failing to register; misrepresenting that the court had modified White’s release conditions to allow him to live with his family, when actually the court had only permitted unsupervised visits with his grandchildren; alluding to nonexistent supervised release violations; stating that White had continuously failed to follow the law; and launching a “vicious personal attack.” White contends that the statements prompted the judge to impose a longer prison term. The Seventh CIrcuit affirmed, acknowledging the inappropriate statements, but characterizing them as not “misinformation of a constitutional magnitude.” The district court explained the need for a consecutive prison term, without further post‐incarceration supervision, to specifically address White’s poor adaption to supervision. That term, less than what the Sentencing Commission and the probation officer had recommended, was justified by the record. View "United States v. White" on Justia Law