USA v. Paul Carson, No. 15-2899 (7th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseCarson, a former employee of the U.S. Postal Service, pleaded guilty to delaying the mail, 18 U.S.C. 1703(a), and was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment plus one year’s supervised release, three months of which must be spent in community confinement. One condition of his supervised release required Carson to submit to a visit by his probation officer, “at home or elsewhere” between the hours of 6 AM and 11 PM. The condition does not permit a home search, but allows the probation officer to confiscate any contraband in plain view. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the condition, while noting that a condition of one person’s release cannot authorize a probation officer to barge into someone else’s home over the objection of its occupants. Terms of supervised release (other than those that are mandatory for all persons under supervision) require justification under 18 U.S.C. 3583(d). Although the judge’s statement that the home-visit condition will enable the probation office to “keep watch” and help enforce the other terms of release implies that a home-visit condition would be appropriate in every case, it is adequate to justify the imposition of this “standard” condition in this case.
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