US v. Kenneth Jone

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 2:14-cr-00176-RGD-DEM-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999802853].. [15-4467]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 15-4467

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
KENNETH J. JONES,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Norfolk.
Robert G. Doumar, Senior
District Judge. (2:14-cr-00176-RGD-DEM-1)

Submitted:

March 30, 2016

Before KEENAN
Circuit Judge.

and

FLOYD,

Decided:

Circuit

Judges,

and

April 25, 2016

DAVIS,

Senior

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Geremy C. Kamens, Acting Federal Public Defender, Frances H.
Pratt, Richard J. Colgan, Assistant Federal Public Defenders,
Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellant.
Dana J. Boente, United
States Attorney, Joseph Kosky, Kathleen Doughterty, Assistant
United States Attorneys, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Kenneth

J.

Jones

pled

guilty

to

one

count

of

knowingly

making a false statement when attempting to purchase a firearm,
in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(1)(A) (2012).
criminal

history

category

of

V,

Jones’

Based on a

advisory

Guidelines range was 4 to 10 months’ imprisonment.

Sentencing

The district

court sentenced Jones to 10 months’ imprisonment followed by a
three-year

term

of

supervised

release.

Jones

completed

the

custodial portion of his sentence on November 21, 2015, and is
currently serving his term of supervised release.

Jones’ sole

contention on appeal is that the district court’s miscalculation
of his criminal history category constituted plain error.
Government

responds

that

the

sentence moots his appeal.

expiration

of

Jones’

The

custodial

We agree.

Mootness is a threshold issue that “goes to the heart of
the Article III jurisdiction of the courts.”

Friedman’s, Inc.

v. Dunlap, 290 F.3d 191, 197 (4th Cir. 2002) (internal quotation
marks omitted).
no

longer

“[A] case is moot when the issues presented are

‘live’

or

the

interest in the outcome.”
496

(1969).

To

parties

lack

a

legally

cognizable

Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486,

satisfy

Article

III’s

case

or

controversy

requirement, “a litigant must have suffered some actual injury
that can be redressed by a favorable judicial decision.”
Arrow

Honor

Soc’y

v.

Heckler,
2

464

U.S.

67,

70

Iron

(1983).

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Redressability is present if it is “likely, as opposed to merely
speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable
decision.”

Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561

(1992) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Jones
posits

does

that

not

challenge

resentencing

is

his

conviction.

warranted

so

Instead,

that,

if

he

he

is

resentenced to a period shorter than 10 months, he can receive
credit from the Bureau of Prisons toward any future sentence he
might serve.
criminal

He further contends that the miscalculation of his

history

category

affects

the

determination

of

the

advisory term of imprisonment that he would face should he be
found in violation of the conditions of his supervised release.
Within
imprisonment,
concrete

and

incarceration

the

context

“once

the

continuing
or

of

challenges

convict’s
injury

parole—some

to

sentence
other

collateral

has

than

a

defendant’s
expired

the

some

now-ended

consequence

conviction—must exist if the suit is to be maintained.”

of

the

United

States v. Hardy, 545 F.3d 280, 283 (4th Cir. 2008) (alterations
and internal quotation marks omitted).

Jones, having completed

the term of imprisonment he seeks to challenge on appeal, “bears
the burden of demonstrating collateral consequences sufficient
to meet Article III’s case-or-controversy requirement.”
284 (internal quotation marks omitted).

3

Id. at

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Because Jones already has served his term of imprisonment,
there is no longer a live controversy regarding the length of
his

confinement.

Therefore,

his

challenge

to

the

district

court’s decision to impose the 10–month prison term is moot.
See Hardy,
sentence

545

as

F.3d

moot

at

284

because

(dismissing
Hardy

had

appeal

of

completed

revocation

serving

his

sentence and failed to identify any collateral consequence).
To

the

could

extent

affect

requirement

that

future

may

not

be

Jones

argues

proceedings,
satisfied

by

that
the

the

alleged

error

case-or-controversy

the

speculation

that

a

respondent will commit an additional crime and, as a result,
serve

a

Supreme

future

sentence

of

Court,

“Respondents

imprisonment.
themselves

As
are

stated

able-and

by

the

indeed

required by law-to prevent such a possibility from occurring.”
Lane v. Williams, 455 U.S. 624, 632 n.13 (1982); accord Spencer
v. Kemna, 523 U.S. 1, 15 (1998); see also O’Shea v. Littleton,
414 U.S. 488, 497 (1974) (“[W]e are . . . unable to conclude
that the case-or-controversy requirement is satisfied by general
assertions or inferences that in the course of their activities
respondents
laws.

will

be

prosecuted

for

violating

valid

criminal

We assume that respondents will conduct their activities

within the law and so avoid prosecution and conviction . . .
.”).

Because

Jones

fails

to

identify

a

collateral

consequence that is not dependent on the commission of another
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crime, we dismiss this appeal as moot.

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

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