United States v. Alvear, No. 19-10040 (5th Cir. 2020)
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The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's revocation of defendant's supervised release and sentence of 27 months in prison. Defendant was convicted for various drug crimes. On appeal, defendant argued that the district court violated his right to confront adverse witnesses by considering hearsay during his revocation hearing. In Morrissey v. Brewer, the Supreme Court established "the minimum requirements of due process" in parole revocation hearings.
Applying the Morrissey standard, the court held that the government showed good cause to overcome defendant's right to confront the hearsay declarant arrayed against him. In this case, while defendant's interest may be heightened, it was undoubtedly diminished by the context of the specific facts of the proceedings. Furthermore, the witness's fear, as extensively evidenced in the record, was sufficient to constitute the government's interest in allowing her out-of-court statements. Finally, the court held that the witness's out of court statements had sufficient indicia of reliability.
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