Filed: Dec. 23, 2019
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS DEC 23 2019 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 18-10441 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. 3:18-cr-00017-RCJ-WGC-1 v. JEREMY CLOUSE, MEMORANDUM* Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada Robert Clive Jones, District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted December 6, 2019 San Francisco, California Before: SILER,** BYBEE, and R. NELSON, C
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS DEC 23 2019 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 18-10441 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. 3:18-cr-00017-RCJ-WGC-1 v. JEREMY CLOUSE, MEMORANDUM* Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada Robert Clive Jones, District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted December 6, 2019 San Francisco, California Before: SILER,** BYBEE, and R. NELSON, Ci..
More
NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS DEC 23 2019
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 18-10441
Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No.
3:18-cr-00017-RCJ-WGC-1
v.
JEREMY CLOUSE, MEMORANDUM*
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Nevada
Robert Clive Jones, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted December 6, 2019
San Francisco, California
Before: SILER,** BYBEE, and R. NELSON, Circuit Judges.
Jeremy Clouse pled guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.
In the operative plea agreement, the Parties calculated the anticipated Sentencing
Guideline offense level at 22. During the negotiations, the parties did not account
for images which supported the application of an additional four-level
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The Honorable Eugene E. Siler, United States Circuit Judge for the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, sitting by designation.
enhancement for possession of images of child pornography showing sadistic and
masochistic conduct. However, the presentence report recommended application
of the four-level enhancement. When Clouse objected to the application of the
enhancement at the sentencing hearing, the Government acknowledged that there
was a factual basis to apply the enhancement but still requested the sentence
contemplated by the plea agreement. The district court applied the enhancement,
calculated the Guideline range at 63 to 78 months, and imposed a 54-month
sentence after varying downwards.
Clouse appeals, arguing (1) the Government breached the plea agreement,
(2) the district court’s sentence was procedurally and substantively unreasonable,
and (3) the district court erred by imposing five unconstitutionally vague and
overbroad Special Conditions of Supervised Release. We have jurisdiction under
28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm in part and vacate in part.
We begin with Clouse’s argument that the Government breached the plea
agreement. The Government breaches a plea agreement implicitly when it
“superficially abide[s] by its promise to recommend a particular sentence while
also making statements that serve no practical purpose but to advocate for a
harsher one.” United States v. Heredia,
768 F.3d 1220, 1231 (9th Cir. 2014). But
the Government’s duty under Heredia is cabined by a countervailing duty of
candor to the court. “[A]ny time a prosecutor is aware that the court is about to
2
impose sentence based upon incomplete or inaccurate information, the prosecutor
has the duty to inform the court of the correct or missing information.” United
States v. Read,
778 F.2d 1437, 1442 (9th Cir. 1985) (quotation and citation
omitted).
Here, the Government complied with its obligations under Read. Although
the Government made statements indicating there was evidence that could support
application of the sentencing enhancement, it fulfilled—and in fact exceeded—its
duty under the terms of the plea agreement by recommending a 41-month sentence.
The Government’s statements in the sentencing memorandum and during the
change of plea hearing merely fulfilled its duty of candor to the court.
Next, we turn to Clouse’s arguments that the sentence imposed was
substantively and procedurally erroneous. Clouse’s argument regarding the
substantive unreasonableness of his sentence is unreviewable pursuant to the plea
waiver. And Clouse’s procedural unreasonableness arguments are all either barred
by the plea waiver or meritless under plain error review.
Finally, we turn to Clouse’s arguments regarding the Special Conditions of
Supervised Release. We conclude that that the district court did not plainly err in
imposing Special Conditions 5, 10, and 11. See United States v. Quinzon,
643 F.3d
1266, 1271–74 (9th Cir. 2011); see also United States v. Hovious, No. 18-10229, --
Fed. App’x --,
2019 WL 4391266 (9th Cir. Sept. 13, 2019). The Government
3
concedes that Special Conditions 4 and 7 should be remanded to the district court
for additional tailoring, and we therefore vacate those Special Conditions and
remand to the district court for the limited purpose of refining Special Condition 4
and conforming the written judgment to the oral pronunciation of Special
Condition 7.
Accordingly, we AFFIRM the district court’s determination that the
Government did not breach the plea agreement. We also AFFIRM the sentence
imposed. However, we VACATE Special Conditions 4 and 7 and REMAND to
the district court.
4