United States v. Chasing

• Decision Date: 14 July 2020
• Docket Number: No. 19-2420,19-2420
• Citation: United States v. Chasing, 965 F.3d 647 (8th Cir. 2020)
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff - Appellee v. Kenton Dayne EAGLE CHASING, Defendant - Appellant
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

965 F.3d 647

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff - Appellee

v.Kenton Dayne EAGLE CHASING, Defendant - Appellant

No. 19-2420

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: June 18, 2020

Filed: July 14, 2020

Stephanie Carlson Bengford, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Ronald A. Parsons, Jr., U.S. Attorney, U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, District of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, SD, Cameron J. Cook, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, District of South Dakota, Pierre, SD, for Plaintiff - Appellee.

Justin L. Bell, MAY & ADAM, Pierre, SD, for Defendant - Appellant.

Kenton Dayne Eagle Chasing, Pro Se.

Before GRUENDER, WOLLMAN, and KOBES, Circuit Judges.

KOBES, Circuit Judge.

Kenton Dayne Eagle Chasing was convicted of murder in 2002 and sentenced to 168 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Less than a year after he left prison, his release was revoked because he failed to follow his probation officer's instructions, drank, and drove under the influence. He served ten months and began another term of supervised release. His release was revoked again and he received twenty months additional prison time when he absconded from supervision. Eagle Chasing's third term of supervised release did not last either—the district court¹ sentenced him to thirty more months in prison for again absconding from supervision and violating tribal law. He appeals, arguing that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, that revocation under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3) is unconstitutional without a jury trial, that the district court should have recused, that there was insufficient evidence of his violations of the conditions of release, and that his sentence is procedurally and substantively unsound. We affirm.

I.

Although murder is generally a state crime, Eagle Chasing's 2002 prosecution was brought in federal court in part because it was alleged to have occurred in Indian country. See 18 U.S.C. § 1153. Eagle Chasing challenges the district court's jurisdiction over his original prosecution by claiming the murder occurred on land that had once been Indian country but had been ceded to a railroad company and could not provide the basis for his federal prosecution.

We cannot review the validity of an underlying conviction through a collateral attack in a supervised-release revocation proceeding. United States v. Miller , 557 F.3d 910, 913 (8th Cir. 2009). To evade this limitation, Eagle Chasing argues that the issue also implicates the district court's jurisdiction to revoke his supervised release. See Gonzalez v. Thaler , 565 U.S. 134, 141, 132 S.Ct. 641, 181 L.Ed.2d 619 (2012) ("Subject-matter jurisdiction can never be waived or forfeited."). We review such challenges de novo . United States v. Hacker , 450 F.3d 808, 814 (8th Cir. 2006).

Although § 1153 provided the jurisdictional basis for his original prosecution, it does not affect the district court's jurisdiction over revocation proceedings. That jurisdiction derives from 18 U.S.C. § 3583. See United States v. Mosby , 719 F.3d 925, 928 & n.3 (8th Cir. 2013) ; Hacker , 450 F.3d at 814 & n.4 (8th Cir. 2006) ; see also , United States v. Mosby , 2018 WL 3383430, at *3 (July 11, 2018) ("A district court's jurisdiction to modify, revoke, or terminate a term of supervised release therefore comes ... from § 3583(e)."). The district court had jurisdiction under § 3583 and so we will not consider Eagle Chasing's argument that the location of the 2002 murder deprived the court of jurisdiction at his original prosecution.

II.

Eagle Chasing next argues that a revocation sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e) violates his constitutional rights to have a jury determine his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. We review constitutional challenges to federal statutes de novo . United States. v. Stephens , 594 F.3d 1033, 1036–37 (8th Cir. 2010).

Eagle Chasing acknowledges that we have rejected similar arguments before. See United States v. Coleman , 404 F.3d 1103, 1104–05 (8th Cir. 2005) (per curiam); United States v. Shurn , 128 Fed. App'x 552, 554 (8th Cir. 2005) (per curiam) (unpublished). We did so because the Supreme Court has long recognized that "revocation of parole is not part of a criminal prosecution and thus the full panoply of rights due a defendant in such a proceeding does not apply to parole revocations." Morrissey v. Brewer , 408 U.S. 471, 480, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972) ; Shurn , 128 Fed. App'x at 554 (citing the same).

Nevertheless, Eagle Chasing suggests that the plurality opinion in United States v. Haymond , ––– U.S. ––––, 139 S. Ct. 2369, 204 L.Ed.2d 897 (2019) undermines this precedent and signals a sea change in the law governing revocation proceedings. Eagle Chasing candidly admits Haymond , which dealt with proceedings under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(k), left open the constitutionality of § 3583(e)(3), but that understates it. In fact, all three opinions in Haymond sit somewhere on a scale between expressing doubt that the right to a jury trial is implicated by revocations under § 3583(e)(3), see id. at 2383–84 (Gorsuch, J.) (plurality opinion), to outright asserting it is not, see id. at 2386 (Breyer, J., concurring); id. at 2391 (Alito, J., dissenting).

There is good reason for this. Unlike a revocation under § 3583(k), revocation under § 3583(e)(3) is a sanction connected to the original offense, and the statute affords the district court wide discretion to determine whether to revoke supervision and what sentence to impose. United States v. Doka , 955 F.3d 290, 296–97 (2d Cir. 2020) ; see also United States v. Wilson , 939 F.3d 929, 933 (8th Cir. 2019) (holding Haymond inapplicable to revocations under § 3583(g) ). Even assuming that, in a future case, the Court follows the plurality and holds "a small set of [ § 3583(e) ] cases" do "turn[ ] out to raise Sixth Amendment issues" when the sum of a defendant's initial and revocation sentences is a total term of imprisonment exceeding the statutory maximum for the original crime of conviction, Eagle Chasing would not be impacted because his second degree murder conviction carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Id. at 2384 (plurality opinion); 18 U.S.C. § 1111(b).

"[A]s an inferior federal court ‘we are not at liberty to browse through the[ ] tea leaves and vaticinate what future holdings the Supreme Court may (or may not) make.’ " Doka , 955 F.3d at 298 (quoting United States v. Gonzalez , 949 F.3d 30, 42 (1st Cir. 2020) ). Until the Supreme Court invalidates § 3583(e)(3), we must follow our precedent and hold that the revocation of Eagle Chasing's release did not violate his constitutional rights.

III.

Eagle Chasing next challenges the district court's denial of his motion requesting recusal because of alleged bias. We review for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Denton , 434 F.3d 1104, 1111 (8th Cir. 2006).

A judge must recuse from "any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned" or when "he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding." 28 U.S.C. § 455(a) & (b)(1). "A judge is presumed to be impartial and ‘the party seeking disqualification bears the substantial burden of proving otherwise.’ " Denton , 434 F.3d at 1111 (quoting Fletcher v. Conoco Pipe Line Co. , 323 F.3d 661, 664 (8th Cir. 2003) ).

To meet this burden, Eagle Chasing points to three statements made by the district court. First, Eagle Chasing suggests that the court admitted to prejudging his case when it wrote, in its order denying the motion for recusal,

Petitioner is apparently concerned about the length of the sentence he faces upon his third revocation. His concern is well placed. Defendants who continue to flaunt the orders of the Court by violating the conditions imposed upon them rightly assume that they will be subject to harsher penalties with each additional revocation.

D. Ct. Dkt. 200 at 3. Second, at the revocation hearing the court noted, although it had sentenced "way over 3,000 people" and did not remember many of those cases, it "definitely remember[ed] this one because it was so cruel and so needless." D. Ct. Dkt. 223 at 10:18–24. Finally, Eagle Chasing points to the district court's statement at an earlier revocation hearing, that Eagle Chasing "has admitted he doesn't trust the court system and maybe for a valid reason. I don't know." D. Ct. Dkt. 127 at 5:22–23.

When a defendant attempts to prove bias based on in-court conduct, that conduct must be "so extreme as to display clear inability to render fair judgment." Liteky v. United States , 510 U.S. 540, 551, 114 S.Ct. 1147, 127 L.Ed.2d 474 (1994). "[O]pinions formed by the judge on the basis of facts introduced or events occurring in the course of current proceedings, or of prior proceedings , do not constitute a basis for a bias or partiality motion unless they display deep-seated favoritism or antagonism that would make fair judgment impossible." Id. at 555, 114 S.Ct. 1147 (emphasis added).

Eagle Chasing has not satisfied that standard. The first two statements stem from opinions formed during a prior proceeding and neither shows deep-seated antagonism toward Eagle Chasing. Further, both relate to factors the district court must consider in revoking supervised release. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) (listing factors including "the history and characteristics of the defendant" and the need "to promote respect for the law"). The third statement, suggesting that Eagle Chasing might have a "valid reason" for not trusting the court system also falls far short of the "substantial burden" that Eagle Chasing carries when seeking recusal. In context, the district court was encouraging Eagle Chasing to trust the court system and telling him it was only "trying to get him off the path of self destruction." D. Ct. Dkt. 127 at 5:25–6:1.

IV.

Eagle Chasing next argues the evidence did not show that he violated the conditions of his release by failing to...