US v. Jamal Pulley

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 8:01-cr-00439-DKC-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999631883].. [14-4802]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 14-4802

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
JAMAL PULLEY,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Greenbelt.
Deborah K. Chasanow, Senior District
Judge. (8:01-cr-00439-DKC-1)

Submitted:

June 29, 2015

Decided:

July 31, 2015

Before WILKINSON and HARRIS, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior
Circuit Judge.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

James Wyda, Federal Public Defender, Meghan Skelton, Appellate
Attorney,
Greenbelt,
Maryland,
for
Appellant.
Rod
J.
Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Thomas P. Windom, Assistant
United States Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Jamal Pulley was sentenced to 54 months’ imprisonment, to
be followed by a 3-year term of supervised release, after he
pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, in
violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) (2012).

Upon release from

imprisonment, Pulley violated his terms of supervision and the
district court revoked his supervised release, sentenced him to
time

served,

and

reimposed

two

years

of

supervised

release.

During this second period of supervision, the district court
found that Pulley again violated his terms of supervision by
(1) failing to report to the probation office within 72 hours of
his

release

from

custody,

(2)

leaving

the

permission, and (3) committing new offenses.

district

without

The district court

sentenced Pulley to 17 months’ imprisonment to be followed by 18
months’ supervised release.

On appeal, Pulley argues that the

district court violated Fed. R. Crim. P. 32.1(b)(2)(C) and his
rights to due process and confrontation by admitting hearsay
evidence to prove that he committed new offenses and failed to
self-surrender on outstanding charges.
We

review

a

district

court’s

We affirm.
ruling

to

admit

hearsay

evidence during a supervised release hearing for an abuse of
discretion.
Cir.

2014).

United States v. Ferguson, 752 F.3d 613, 616 (4th
“Supervised

release

revocation

hearings

are

informal proceedings in which the rules of evidence, including
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those

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pertaining

to

hearsay,

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need

not

be

strictly

applied.”

United States v. Doswell, 670 F.3d 526, 530 (4th Cir. 2012).
However,

due

process

affords

a

releasee

a

limited

right

“to

confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses” at a revocation
hearing

“unless

the

hearing

officer

specifically

cause for not allowing confrontation.”
U.S. 471, 489 (1972).
revocation

hearing,

finds

good

Morrissey v. Brewer, 408

Prior to admitting hearsay evidence in a
“the

district

court

must

balance

the

releasee’s interest in confronting an adverse witness against
any

proffered

good

cause

Doswell, 670 F.3d at 530.

for

denying

such

confrontation.”

Further, the due process guarantee is

embodied in the procedural rule that a releasee is “entitled to
. . . question any adverse witness unless the court determines
that the interest of justice does not require the witness to
appear.”
rulings
error

Fed. R. Crim. P. 32.1(b)(2)(C).
are

is

subject

harmless

to
if

harmless
we

error

conclude

However, evidentiary

review,

“that

the

such

that

error

had

any
no

substantial and injurious effect or influence on the outcome
. . . .”

Ferguson, 752 F.3d at 618 (internal quotation marks

omitted).
Regardless

of

whether

the

hearsay

evidence

was

admitted, we hold that any alleged error was harmless.
does

not

contend

that

the

district

court

lacked

properly
Pulley

sufficient

grounds to revoke his supervised release, or that he should not
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have served a term of imprisonment, or even that his sentence
was

plainly

unreasonable.

Rather,

Pulley

argues

that

the

district court improperly assessed a Grade B violation instead
of a Grade C violation against him because it relied on hearsay
evidence to show that Pulley committed new offenses while on
supervision.
(2013).

See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual, § 7B1.1(a)

The district court, however, explicitly stated that it

would impose the same sentence against Pulley even if it did not
think

he

had

committed

the

new

offenses,

based

on

Pulley’s

admitted failure to report to the probation office after his
first

revocation

hearing.

We

accordingly

conclude

that

any

Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s judgment.

We

evidentiary error was harmless.

dispense

with

oral

argument

because

the

facts

and

legal

contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the
court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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