Filed: Sep. 04, 2019
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit _ No. 18-3112 _ United States of America Plaintiff - Appellee v. Clarence Duane Burnett Defendant - Appellant _ Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City _ Submitted: June 13, 2019 Filed: September 4, 2019 [Unpublished] _ Before GRUENDER, STRAS, and KOBES, Circuit Judges. _ PER CURIAM. The district court 1 revoked Clarence Burnett’s supervised release after finding that he lied to his probatio
Summary: United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit _ No. 18-3112 _ United States of America Plaintiff - Appellee v. Clarence Duane Burnett Defendant - Appellant _ Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City _ Submitted: June 13, 2019 Filed: September 4, 2019 [Unpublished] _ Before GRUENDER, STRAS, and KOBES, Circuit Judges. _ PER CURIAM. The district court 1 revoked Clarence Burnett’s supervised release after finding that he lied to his probation..
More
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
___________________________
No. 18-3112
___________________________
United States of America
Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
Clarence Duane Burnett
Defendant - Appellant
____________
Appeal from United States District Court
for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City
____________
Submitted: June 13, 2019
Filed: September 4, 2019
[Unpublished]
____________
Before GRUENDER, STRAS, and KOBES, Circuit Judges.
____________
PER CURIAM.
The district court 1 revoked Clarence Burnett’s supervised release after finding
that he lied to his probation officer. We affirm.
1
The Honorable Howard F. Sachs, United States District Judge for the
Western District of Missouri.
As a condition of supervised release, Burnett had to seek permission from his
probation officer before working, in large part because his prior conviction for
obstructing justice involved hiding assets. Rather than comply with this
requirement, however, Burnett decided to assist his mother with a major real-estate
deal involving two buildings and then enter into a written agreement to renovate
them. When his probation officer learned of these activities, he confronted Burnett,
who “denied being actively involved.”
The district court found that this statement was a lie. In doing so, it credited
the probation officer’s description of his conversations with Burnett. On this record,
we have no reason to second-guess this “virtually unreviewable” credibility
determination. United States v. Carothers,
337 F.3d 1017, 1019 (8th Cir. 2003).
Nor is there any merit to the suggestion that Burnett answered truthfully when he
denied being “actively involved” with his mother’s business. After all, he helped
negotiate a transaction worth more than one million dollars and then agreed to
renovate two buildings—actions that can hardly be described as trivial. Once the
court determined that Burnett failed to “answer truthfully all inquiries by [his]
probation officer,” it was entitled to revoke supervised release and return him to
prison. See 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3).
We accordingly affirm the judgment of the district court.
______________________________
-2-