Filed: Apr. 26, 2012
Latest Update: Feb. 12, 2020
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 11-14108 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT Non-Argument Calendar APRIL 26, 2012 _ JOHN LEY CLERK D.C. Docket No. 1:09-tp-20005-FAM-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee, versus ALFREDO CESPEDES, llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida _ (April
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 11-14108 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT Non-Argument Calendar APRIL 26, 2012 _ JOHN LEY CLERK D.C. Docket No. 1:09-tp-20005-FAM-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee, versus ALFREDO CESPEDES, llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida _ (April ..
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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________ FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
No. 11-14108 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
Non-Argument Calendar APRIL 26, 2012
________________________ JOHN LEY
CLERK
D.C. Docket No. 1:09-tp-20005-FAM-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
ALFREDO CESPEDES,
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
________________________
(April 26, 2012)
Before TJOFLAT, WILSON and KRAVITCH, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Alfredo Cespedes appeals the revocation of his supervised release on the
ground that the district court violated his Sixth Amendment rights at his revocation
hearing when it admitted a testimonial hearsay statement from an unavailable
witness. He contends that the district court erred in applying United States v.
Frazier,
26 F.3d 110 (11th Cir. 1994), as controlling precedent for the admission of
hearsay evidence in revocation hearings. He argues that the district court should
have followed the more recent Supreme Court cases of Crawford v. Washington,
541 U.S. 36,
124 S. Ct. 1354 (2004), and Davis v. Washington,
547 U.S. 813,
126
S. Ct. 2266 (2006). Cespedes does not argue that the district court misapplied
Frazier. After reviewing the record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the district
court.
We review a district court’s decision to revoke supervised release only for
abuse of discretion. United States v. Copeland,
20 F.3d 412, 413 (11th Cir. 1994)
(per curiam). “We review de novo the scope of constitutional rights.” United
States v. Cantellano,
430 F.3d 1142, 1144 (11th Cir. 2005) (per curiam).
The Supreme Court has explained that the “full panoply of rights due a
defendant” at trial does not apply in a supervised release revocation hearing.
Morrissey v. Brewer,
408 U.S. 471, 480,
92 S. Ct. 2593, 2600 (1972) (discussing a
revocation of parole);
Copeland, 20 F.3d at 414 (applying Morrissey to revocation
of supervised release). Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.1(b)(2)(C) also
provides that a defendant is entitled to question an adverse witness in a revocation
hearing unless the court determines that the interest of justice does not require the
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witness to appear. The revocation hearing should be informal and flexible enough
for the court “to consider evidence including letters, affidavits, and other material
that would not be admissible in an adversary criminal trial.”
Morrissey, 408 U.S.
at 489, 92 S. Ct. at 2604.
We review the admission of an absent witness’s hearsay statements at a
revocation hearing under the balancing test articulated in
Frazier, 26 F.3d at 112.
This test requires the district court to consider the reliability of the hearsay
statement and to balance the defendant’s right to confront adverse witnesses
against the government’s asserted grounds for denying confrontation.
Id. at 114.
Cespedes requests that we overturn Frazier in light of Crawford and Davis.
Crawford created a standard to control the admissibility of testimonial hearsay
statements during criminal
trials. 541 U.S. at 53-54, 124 S. Ct. at 1365. The
Supreme Court has not indicated that this standard extends to revocation hearings.
Therefore, we are bound by Frazier, and the district court did not abuse its
discretion in applying Frazier.
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
AFFIRMED.
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