United States v. Walter, No. 10-2770 (8th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseDefendant pleaded guilty to one count of failing to register as a sex offender and was sentenced to thirty months imprisonment followed by ten years of supervised release. Defendant appealed his two special conditions of supervised release, which restricted him from consuming alcohol or entering bars or similar establishments (Condition 2) and which prohibited him from contacting minors without the prior approval of the probation officer (Condition 4). The court held that, given the lack of specific findings and the evidence in the record, the district court abused its discretion in imposing Condition 2. The court held, however, that, while the district court could have crafted a lesser-restrictive prohibition for Condition 4, the court found no abuse of discretion in the district court's decision not do so, especially since the court ordered the probation office to facilitate defendant's contact with his family. Accordingly, the court vacated Condition 2 and affirmed Condition 4.
Court Description: Criminal case - Sentencing. District court failed to provide any meaningful rationale for its decision to include an alcohol ban in the special conditions of defendant's supervised release and the record did not support the imposition of such a condition; the record shows defendant has a history of sex offenses with minors and a condition preventing him from contacting minors without prior written approval of the probation office is affirmed.
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