How do I challenge unlawful discretionary conditions that were added on to my supervised release?

Within 14 days of your sentencing hearing, you must file a Notice of Appeal with the Clerk of the Court where you were convicted.[979] Once this occurs, you should contact the Federal Public Defender’s Office in your federal judicial district. . For a list of Federal Public Defender’s Offices in California, visit: http://www.fd.org/docs/defender-contacts/federal-public-and-community-defender-directory.pdf?sfvrsn=9.

A discretionary condition on your Supervised Release may be imposed only if it:

    Is “reasonably related” certain statutory (meaning, included in the law) sentencing factors,[980] which include the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history and characteristics of the defendant, the need to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant, and the need to provide needed educational or vocational training, medial care, or other correctional treatment; AND
    Involves “no greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary” to serve the purposes of deterrence, protection of the public, and training and treatment.[981]

Courts have emphasized that BOTH of these requirements must be satisfied in order to impose a special condition.[982] Moreover, in the event of an objection, it is the government’s burden to show that the condition is justified.[983]

NOTE: The rules and processes for challenging discretionary conditions of Supervised Release are the same as those that apply to that apply to Federal Probation (refer back to PG. 225 for information on challenging discretionary conditions of federal probation.)

  1. 979

    Fed. R. App. Pro. 4(b)(1)(A).

  2. 980

    See 18 U.S.C. §§ 3553(a)(1), 3553(a)(2)(B) - (D).

  3. 981

    18 U.S.C. § 3583(d).

  4. 982

    See, e.g., U.S. v. Bender, 566 F.3d 78 (8th Cir. 2009); U.S. v. Perazza-Mercado, 553 F.3d 65 (1st Cir. 2009); U.S. v. Pruden, 398 F.3d 241, 249 (3d Cir. 2005).

  5. 983

    U.S. v. Weber, 451 F.3d 553 (9th Cir. 2006) (“We have long held that a term of supervised release is part of a defendant’s sentence . . . and, like imprisonment, restricts a defendant’s liberty and fundamental rights . . .. As a result, when the government seeks to restrict a defendant’s liberty through a term of supervised release, it shoulders the burden of proving that a particular condition of supervised release involves no greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary to serve the goals of supervised release.”)