U.S. v. Daniels

• Decision Date: 29 August 2008
• Docket Number: No. 07-50242.,07-50242.
• Citation: 541 F.3d 915
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Harry John DANIELS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

541 F.3d 915

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Harry John DANIELS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 07-50242.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted March 6, 2008.

Filed August 29, 2008.

Sean K. Kennedy, Federal Public Defender, and Kathryn A. Young, Deputy

Federal Public Defender, Los Angeles, CA, for the defendant-appellant.

Thomas P. O'Brien, United States Attorney, Christine C. Ewell and Joseph N. Akrotirianakis, Assistant United States Attorneys, Los Angeles, CA, for the plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California; Stephen G. Larson, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CR-06-00096-SGL.

Before: J. CLIFFORD WALLACE, RONALD M. GOULD, and SANDRA S. IKUTA, Circuit Judges.

WALLACE, Circuit Judge:

Daniels appeals from the sentence he received after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B). He challenges the length and several conditions of his lifetime term of supervised release. We affirm in part, and vacate and remand in part.

I

In August 2004, special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were investigating the distribution of child pornography over the internet through online chat groups. After identifying a group whose members traded child pornography over the internet, the FBI traced the online identity of one group member to Daniels in Upland, California. In September 2004, the FBI executed a federal search warrant for Daniels' Upland residence. Daniels made two statements to the FBI in which he admitted that he was a member of the subject group, that he participated in the group in a female persona, that on several occasions he had downloaded child pornography from the internet and uploaded child pornography to the internet, and that he had child pornography saved on his computer hard drive and on computer diskettes in his home.

FBI agents seized a computer, 223 diskettes, three compact discs, three videotapes, and eleven file folders of documents belonging to Daniels. A search of these media revealed thousands of images and videos of child pornography, and examiners at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children determined that these thousands of images included 659 images depicting identified victims of child sexual abuse.

In exchange for Daniels' agreement to plead guilty to a single-count information alleging possession of child pornography and to waive certain appellate rights, the government agreed not to prosecute Daniels for violations of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(1)-(4) or (6) which would have charged him with receipt, distribution, reproduction, advertisement, promotion, solicitation, or sale of child pornography, or possession with intent to sell child pornography. The plea agreement stated that the maximum sentence included ten years of imprisonment and a lifetime period of supervised release. As part of the plea agreement, Daniels consented to several conditions of supervised release related to the use of computers and the internet. The district court accepted the plea agreement.

The Probation Office filed its Presentence Report (PSR) on Daniels and recommended a lifetime term of supervised release, observed that the lifetime term was warranted by applicable statutory provisions, and recommended incarceration within the sentencing guidelines. The PSR reasoned that Daniels' interest in child pornography over a number of years, his desire to protect his illegal pornographic images, and "an unknown clinical risk assessment of his behavior" all supported the imposition of the lifetime term. The government's sentencing memorandum agreed with the Probation Office's recommendations and with the justification for the recommendations.

Daniels objected to the lifetime term and certain special conditions of supervised release, arguing that they were unreasonable and that they did not comport with the governing statutory requirements. In response, the Probation Office reiterated that a lifetime term of supervised release was necessary:

Because the defendant has carefully controlled the type of information provided to the Court as to his psychological condition and orientation, a lifetime term of supervised [release] is necessary for protection of the community, as a truly independent risk assessment has not been conducted. Perhaps even more compelling is that such a term is needed to meet the goal of ensuring adequate rehabilitative treatment. The issues underlying sex offenses are typically deeply ingrained and require life long management. Should the defendant be able to demonstrate to the Court during the term of supervised release that all the underlying clinical truths as to his condition have been identified and ameliorated, the defendant can apply for an early termination of his supervised release.

Most of the argument at the sentencing hearing related to the term of imprisonment. The lifetime term of supervised release and special conditions of release were not brought up by either party. The district court ultimately imposed a 51-month sentence of imprisonment, below the low-end of the advisory Guidelines range. Although Daniels' opening brief challenged his term of imprisonment as unreasonable, he withdrew that argument in his reply brief. The district court also imposed a lifetime term of supervised release with several special conditions, including those to which Daniels had consented in the plea agreement and others for which he had not waived appellate rights. Daniels timely appealed, challenging the length of his term of supervised release as well as several of its special conditions.

II

We first address Daniels' challenges to the district court's imposition of a lifetime term of supervised release. The length of Daniels' term of supervised release is part of his sentence and is reviewed for reasonableness. See United States v. Cope, 527 F.3d 944, 950 (9th Cir.2008). "On appeal, we first consider whether the district court committed significant procedural error, then we consider the substantive reasonableness of the sentence." United States v. Carty, 520 F.3d 984, 993 (9th Cir.2008) (en banc).

Daniels argues that the lifetime term must be reversed because the district court failed to explain its reasons for its imposition in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(c), which provides that "[t]he court, at the time of sentencing, shall state in open court the reasons for its imposition of the particular sentence." Failure to explain adequately the sentence selected can be procedural error. See Carty, 520 F.3d at 993. The Supreme Court has explained that section 3553(c) requires a sentencing court to "set forth enough to satisfy the appellate court that [it] has considered the parties' arguments and has a reasoned basis for exercising [its] own legal decisionmaking authority." Rita v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 2456, 2468, 168 L.Ed.2d 203 (2007). "What constitutes a sufficient explanation will necessarily vary depending upon the complexity of the particular case, whether the sentence chosen is inside or outside the Guidelines, and the strength and seriousness of the proffered reasons for imposing a sentence that differs from the Guidelines range. A within-Guidelines sentence ordinarily needs little explanation...." Carty, 520 F.3d at 992. No lengthy explanation is necessary if "the record makes clear that the sentencing judge considered the evidence and arguments." Rita, 127 S.Ct. at 2469.

It is true, as Daniels argues, that the sentencing court did not expressly state its reasons for imposing the lifetime term of supervised release during the sentencing hearing. The sentencing hearing simply did not focus on the term of supervised release and focused instead on the term of imprisonment. Neither party brought it up, although Daniels was given ample opportunity to do so when both he and his counsel were asked if they had anything to add to the discussion. Despite the district court's silence on the specific issue of the term of supervised release, however, we are satisfied that the record shows that the court considered the arguments and evidence that Daniels had submitted and chose to reject those arguments and impose the Guidelines-recommended lifetime term of supervised release.

The PSR and the government's sentencing memorandum both discussed the reasons for recommending a lifetime term of supervised release, and Daniels challenged that recommendation in his own sentencing memorandum. At the opening of the sentencing hearing, the judge stated,

The court has also received [the PSR], as well as the recommendations of the probation officer and the pre-sentence investigation report. I've received the government's initial position, the defendant's position regarding sentencing factors, and then the government's response to the defendant's sentencing memorandum on the defendant's position. I've read all of the exhibits; the report from the treating therapists and doctors; the letters, Mr. Daniels' letters; and the various other information that you submitted concerning sentencing issues and placement issues.

From this record, it is clear that the sentencing court was aware of Daniels' objection to the recommended term of supervised release and had considered Daniels' arguments and evidence before making its decision. See Carty, 520 F.3d at 996 (reasoning that when a sentencing judge "stated that he reviewed the papers" and "the papers discussed the applicability of § 3553(a) factors," we can assume that the judge considered the relevant factors). Certainly the district court could have said more to explain its decision, as did the district court in Cope, 527 F.3d at 951-52, but such a lengthy explanation is not always necessary. Indeed, as we recently stated in Carty, "[a]n explanation communicates that the parties' arguments have been heard, and that a reasoned decision has been made. It is most...