US v. Jude Eligwe

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 8:07-cr-00160-PJM-2 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999729792].. [15-4214]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 15-4214

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff – Appellee,
v.
JUDE ELIGWE,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Greenbelt.
Peter J. Messitte, Senior District
Judge. (8:07-cr-00160-PJM-2)

Submitted:

December 21, 2015

Decided:

January 5, 2016

Before WILKINSON, SHEDD, and AGEE, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Ruth J. Vernet, RUTH J. VERNET, LLC, Rockville, Maryland, for
Appellant. Rod J. Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Deborah
Johnston, Assistant United States Attorney, Sumon Dantiki,
Special Assistant United States Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland,
for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Jude

Eligwe

appeals

from

the

district

court’s

judgment

revoking his term of supervised release and sentencing him to
four months’ incarceration with no further supervised release.
On appeal, Eligwe challenges one of the four violations that
served

as

sentence

a
was

basis

for

plainly

the

revocation,

unreasonable.

and

asserts

While

pending, Eligwe was released from imprisonment.

the

appeal

this

that

was

As a result,

the government asserts that Eligwe’s appeal is moot.

See United

States v. Hardy, 545 F.3d 280, 284-85 (4th Cir. 2008) (noting
that appellant’s release from prison during pendency of appeal
mooted

challenge

to

revocation

imposition of prison sentence).
in

this

circumstance,

demonstrating
continuing

a

a

collateral

injury,’”

of

supervised

release

and

To avoid dismissal for mootness

defendant
consequence,

sufficient

to

has

the

“‘some
meet

burden

of

concrete

and

Article

III’s

case-or-controversy requirement.

Id. at 283 (quoting Spencer v.

Kemna, 523 U.S. 1, 7 (1998)).

This burden is high, because

“courts

considering

release

have

challenges

universally

to

concluded

revocations
that

such

of

supervised

challenges

also

become moot when the term of imprisonment for that revocation
ends.”

Id. at 284.

Eligwe argues that he has met his burden of showing the
requisite

injury

because

he

is
2

in

the

custody

of

U.S.

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Immigration

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and

Customs

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Enforcement

and

the

outcome

of

this

appeal is likely to have an impact on his immigration status.
As this court has explained, “for a controversy to be moot, it
must lack at least one of the three required elements of Article
III

standing:

(1) injury

(3) redressability.”
(4th Cir. 2009).

in

fact,

(2)

causation,

or

Townes v. Jarvis, 577 F.3d 543, 546-47

For an injury to satisfy the redressability

prong, it must be likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that
the injury will be redressed by a decision in Eligwe’s favor.
Id. at 547.

Given Eligwe’s underlying conviction for conspiracy

to commit bank robbery, we find that the likelihood that Eligwe
will

avoid

removal

by

succeeding

in

this

appeal

to

be

speculative.

Accordingly, he has failed to meet his burden of

demonstrating

a

collateral

consequence,

and

we

dismiss

his

appeal as moot.
Eligwe

also

asserts

that

the

district

judgment contains a clerical error.

court’s

written

Specifically, the court

orally found Eligwe in violation of four specific conditions of
his supervised release.
expressly

not

pursued

Two other potential violations were
by

the

government,

yet

the

judgment

reflects that one of those potential violations was mistakenly
listed

in

the

judgment

under

“Additional

Violations.”

The

violation in question alleged that Eligwe was issued a criminal
citation

in

Anne

Arundel

County,
3

Maryland

for

confining

an

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unattended

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child.

The

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government

concedes

this

error,

but

asserts that Eligwe should seek correction by filing a motion
under Fed.

R.

Crim.

P.

36.

We

find

that

the

interests

of

judicial economy weigh in favor of remand from this court for
correction of the judgment to remove this unpursued violation.
We therefore dismiss as moot and remand for correction of
the

clerical

error

in

the

judgment.

We

dispense

with

oral

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

DISMISSED AND REMANDED

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