United States v. Crawford, 4th Cir. (2003)
United States v. Crawford, 4th Cir. (2003)
UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
VERN ODELL CRAWFORD,
Defendant-Appellant.
No. 02-4789
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Virginia, at Harrisonburg.
Jackson L. Kiser, Senior District Judge.
(CR-95-108)
Submitted: March 3, 2003
Decided: March 17, 2003
Before NIEMEYER, MICHAEL, and KING, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
COUNSEL
Michael T. Hemenway, Charlottesville, Virginia, for Appellant. John
L. Brownlee, United States Attorney, Thomas Linn Eckert, Assistant
United States Attorney, Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).
UNITED STATES v. CRAWFORD
OPINION
PER CURIAM:
Vern Odell Crawford appeals the district courts order revoking his
supervised release. Crawford was convicted on one count of obstructing justice and two counts of wilfully failing to file tax returns. Crawford was sentenced to fifty-one months incarceration and three years
of supervised release. Crawfords release entailed two conditions relevant on appeal: Crawford was to provide his Probation Officer with
"access to any requested financial information" and Crawford was to
pay a $100,000 fine, and $5,934.65 in prosecution costs. The district
court entered an order revoking Crawfords release based on his failure to comply with these terms.
First, Crawford argues the district court erred in revoking his
supervised release; specifically, Crawford argues that he failed to
make payments towards his fine and prosecution costs because he
lacked the funds to make any payments, and that he never failed to
disclose financial information to his Probation Officer because he
never had financial information to disclose. This Court reviews a district courts revocation of an individuals supervised release for abuse
of discretion. United States v. Copley, 978 F.2d 829, 831 (4th Cir.
1992). Crawfords claim is meritless. The Government established
Crawford failed to comply with the disclosure and payment terms of
his supervised release. 18 U.S.C. 3603 (2000); United States v.
Woodrup, 86 F.3d 359, 361 (4th Cir. 1996).
Second, Crawford alleges his Probation Officer and the district
court conducted an ex parte meeting to discuss his case, in violation
of his constitutional rights. Crawford cannot prevail on this claim
absent a showing of plain error. See United States v. Promise, 255
F.3d 150, 154 (4th Cir. 2001). The record does not demonstrate an ex
parte meeting occurred, and Crawford cannot establish an ex parte
meeting would violate his constitutional rights, in any event. United
States v. Washington, 146 F.3d 219, 223 (4th Cir. 1998); United
States v. Johnson, 935 F.2d 47, 49-50 (4th Cir. 1991).
Accordingly, we affirm the district courts order revoking Crawfords supervised release. We dispense with oral argument because
UNITED STATES v. CRAWFORD
the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid in the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
