United States v. Anstice

Anstice pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and five years’ supervised release. Five conditions of supervised release appeared in the written judgment of conviction but were not announced orally by the district court at sentencing. Three of the challenged conditions are mandated by federal statute, 18 U.S.C. 3583(d), and two are discretionary (requiring Anstice to report to the probation office within 72 hours of his release and prohibiting his possessing a firearm, destructive device, or other dangerous weapons),. All had been categorized as “mandatory” in the Presentence Investigation Report. The Seventh Circuit affirmed in part. The three conditions mandated by section 3583(d) were validly part of Anstice’s sentence even though the court failed to announce them orally at sentencing. The court vacated the other two conditions. As commonplace and sensible as the conditions may be across federal sentences, Congress has not mandated their imposition. If a district court does choose to impose them, they must be announced at sentencing; in this case, the oral sentence conflicts with the written sentence. View "United States v. Anstice" on Justia Law