Filed: Aug. 31, 2015
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 14-4738 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. SEAN BISHOP, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt. Deborah K. Chasanow, Senior District Judge. (8:99-cr-00255-DKC-1) Submitted: August 27, 2015 Decided: August 31, 2015 Before WILKINSON, AGEE, and THACKER, Circuit Judges. Dismissed in part, affirmed in part by unpublished per curiam opinion. Robi
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 14-4738 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. SEAN BISHOP, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt. Deborah K. Chasanow, Senior District Judge. (8:99-cr-00255-DKC-1) Submitted: August 27, 2015 Decided: August 31, 2015 Before WILKINSON, AGEE, and THACKER, Circuit Judges. Dismissed in part, affirmed in part by unpublished per curiam opinion. Robin..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 14-4738
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
SEAN BISHOP,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Greenbelt. Deborah K. Chasanow, Senior District
Judge. (8:99-cr-00255-DKC-1)
Submitted: August 27, 2015 Decided: August 31, 2015
Before WILKINSON, AGEE, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.
Dismissed in part, affirmed in part by unpublished per curiam
opinion.
Robin M. Earnest, EARNEST LAW PRACTICE, Riverdale, Maryland, for
Appellant. Rod J. Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Kristi
O’Malley, Assistant United States Attorney, Conor Mulroe,
Special Assistant United States Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland,
for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Sean Bishop seeks to appeal the district court’s judgment
revoking supervised release and sentencing him to 12 months’
imprisonment, followed by 40 months’ supervised release. The
Government contends that Bishop’s appeal is moot because he has
completed his term of imprisonment. For the following reasons,
we dismiss Bishop’s appeal of his sentence of imprisonment and
affirm the term of supervised release.
“The doctrine of mootness originates in Article III’s case
or controversy language,” and we lose jurisdiction over any
portion of an appeal that becomes moot. Incumma v. Ozmint,
507
F.3d 281, 286 (4th Cir. 2007) (alterations and internal
quotation marks omitted). “[A] case is moot when the issues
presented are no longer live or the parties lack a legally
cognizable interest in the out-come.”
Id. at 286 (internal
quotation marks omitted). “If an event occurs while a case is
pending on appeal that makes it impossible for the court to
grant any effectual relief . . . to a prevailing party, the
appeal must be dismissed . . . .”
Id. (brackets and internal
quotation marks omitted).
Here, Bishop’s completion of his term of imprisonment
during the pendency of this appeal rendered his challenge to the
prison term moot, and we dismiss that portion of his appeal for
lack of jurisdiction. But we do possess jurisdiction over
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Bishop’s challenge to the reasonableness of his term of
supervised release because he is still serving that portion of
his sentence, and we proceed to that issue.
“A district court has broad discretion when imposing a
sentence upon revocation of supervised release.” United
States v. Webb,
738 F.3d 638, 640 (4th Cir. 2013). We “will
affirm a revocation sentence if it is within the statutory
maximum and is not plainly unreasonable.”
Id. (internal
quotation marks omitted). When considering a challenge to the
reasonableness of a sentence, we first consider the procedural
reasonableness of the sentence, including whether the district
court properly calculated the Sentencing Guidelines range, and
then consider its substantive reasonableness in light of the
“totality of the circumstances” and the applicable 18 U.S.C.
§ 3553(a) (2012) factors. United States v. Aplicano-Oyuela,
792
F.3d 416, 423, 425 (4th Cir. 2015). When reviewing the
substantive reasonableness of a term of supervised release, we
may apply a presumption of reasonableness where the imposed term
falls within the Sentencing Guidelines range.
Id. at 425.
Finally, because Bishop did not object to the imposed term of
supervised release before the district court, we review only for
plain error.
Webb, 738 F.3d at 640-41.
We conclude that the district court did not plainly err in
imposing a 40-month term of supervised release. Subtracting the
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prison terms Bishop served for supervised release violations,
the district court was statutorily authorized to impose a 40-
month term of supervised release and this term fell within the
policy statement range. See 18 U.S.C. § 3583(b)(1), (h) (2012).
Bishop does not rebut the reasonableness of the term. U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 5D1.2(a)(1) (2013).
Accordingly, we dismiss as moot Bishop’s appeal of his
sentence of imprisonment, and affirm the district court’s
judgment with respect to Bishop’s term of supervised release.
In light of the district court’s excusable neglect finding, we
deny the Government’s motion to dismiss Bishop’s appeal as
untimely. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and
legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials
before this court and argument would not aid the decisional
process.
DISMISSED IN PART
AFFIRMED IN PART
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