United States v. Rucker

Rucker finished an approximately 15-year term of imprisonment and began a five-year term of supervised release. Rucker violated the terms of his supervised release on four occasions when he tested positive for methamphetamine, which required the court to revoke Rucker’s supervised release and to sentence him to a term of imprisonment not to exceed five years, 18 U.S.C. 3583. Before determining the length of Rucker’s new term of imprisonment, the district court permitted him to enter an inpatient addiction treatment program. Presumably if Rucker had successfully completed the program the court would have imposed a short sentence. About a month after Rucker entered the program, he was ejected. The district court held a revocation hearing. Rucker’s Guidelines range was 21-27 months’ imprisonment. The court imposed a sentence of 24 months, stating that Rucker could qualify for the Bureau of Prisons’ residential drug-abuse program only if his sentence was at least 22 months in length. The Sixth Circuit vacated. A sentence is substantively unreasonable if the district court bases it on an impermissible factor. The Supreme Court has held that “[s]ection 3582(a) precludes sentencing courts from imposing or lengthening a prison term to promote an offender’s rehabilitation.” View "United States v. Rucker" on Justia Law