Friday, January 27, 2012

Sixth Circuit vacates release conditions in CP case

In United States v. Inman, 666 F.3d 1001 (6th Cir. 2012), the court vacated and remanded a supervised release conditions in connection with a conviction of possession of child pornography. The court reviewed the conditions for plain error and found the following mistakes:

  • Forbiddance of drinking alcohol and requirement of reporting all prescription drugs to the probation officer was not warranted as there was no history of alcohol or drug dependence. Also, the statute does not allow a total ban of alcohol.
  • Ban for life of "any device capable of creating pictures or video." The court questioned this requirement since the conviction was for possession of child pornography, rather than production.
  • Ban of post office boxes and storage units would be better explained or reversed. The court suggested that the offender should be required to submit to a search of those places instead of a total ban.
  • Requirement to provide the probation office with requested personal financial information did not appear necessary based on the facts of the case.
The Sixth Circuit held, "Because both the length of supervised release and the conditions imposed are likely more severe than if the district court had followed the correct procedures, the district court's errors seriously affect the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of the proceedings."

0 comments:

Post a Comment