US v. Harvey Hood, Jr.

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 3:08-cr-00163-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999671080].. [15-4228]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 15-4228

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
HARVEY HOOD, JR.,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern
District of West Virginia, at Huntington.
Robert C. Chambers,
Chief District Judge. (3:08-cr-00163-1)

Submitted:

September 15, 2015

Decided:

October 2, 2015

Before MOTZ, AGEE, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Christian M. Capece, Federal Public Defender, Jonathan D. Byrne,
Research & Writing Specialist, Lex A. Coleman, Assistant Federal
Public Defender, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellant.
R.
Booth Goodwin II, United States Attorney, Eric P. Bacaj,
Assistant United States Attorney, Charleston, West Virginia, for
Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
In 2009, Harvey Hood, Jr., was convicted of possessing a
stolen firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(j), 924(a)(2)
(2012),

and

was

sentenced

to

27

months’

imprisonment,

followed by a 3-year term of supervised release.

to

be

The district

court found that, after Hood’s release from imprisonment, he
violated the terms of his supervised release by committing the
state crime of robbery and using controlled substances.

The

district court revoked Hood’s supervised release and sentenced
him to 24 months’ imprisonment.
district

court

committed

the

abused
robbery

factual findings. *

its

On appeal, Hood argues that the

discretion

offense

by

in

making

finding
clearly

that

he

erroneous

We affirm.

To revoke supervised release, a district court need only
find a violation of a condition of release by a preponderance of
the evidence.
district

18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3) (2012).

court’s

ultimate

decision

to

revoke

supervised release for abuse of discretion.”
Padgett, 788 F.3d 370, 373 (4th Cir. 2015).
factual findings are reviewed for clear error.

*

“We review a
a

defendant’s

United States v.
A district court’s
Id.

Hood admitted to the controlled substances violation and
does not contest this violation on appeal.

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“A factual finding is clearly erroneous when we are ‘left
with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been
committed.’”

United States v. Stevenson, 396 F.3d 538, 542 (4th

Cir. 2005) (quoting Anderson v. Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 573
(1985)).

“Witness credibility is quintessentially a judgment

call and virtually unassailable on appeal.”

United States v.

Cates, 613 F.3d 856, 858 (8th Cir. 2010) (quoting United States
v.

Bolden,

596

F.3d

976,

982

quotation marks omitted).

(8th.

Cir.

2010))

(internal

We may, however, find clear error

where “[d]ocuments or objective evidence . . . contradict the
witness’

story;

inconsistent

or

or

the

story

implausible

on

factfinder would not credit it.”

itself
its

[is]

face

so

internally

a

reasonable

that

Anderson v. City of Bessemer

City, 470 U.S. 564, 575 (1985).
We have reviewed the record and conclude that the district
court did not clearly err in relying on the testimony of the
victim to establish that Hood committed the state offense of
robbery, and in so doing, finding that Hood violated a term of
his

supervised

release.

While

the

victim

gave

inconsistent

statements to the police, they were not so inconsistent as to
render

the

unreasonable.

district
The

court’s

pictures

reliance
of

the

on

victim’s

consistent with her account of the attack.

her

testimony

injuries

are

Additionally, while

the victim did not inform the police she was planning on selling
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Hood heroin before the robbery, she did admit to using heroin,
thus subjecting her to possible punitive sanctions based on her
report to the police.

Thus, we conclude the district court did

not abuse its discretion in revoking Hood’s supervised release.
Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order revoking
supervised release.
facts

and

materials

legal
before

We dispense with oral argument because the

contentions

are

adequately

this

and

argument

court

presented

would

not

in

the

aid

the

decisional process.
AFFIRMED

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