United States v. Benjamin John Higgerson

Summary

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed an 18-month imprisonment sentence imposed after the third revocation of Benjamin John Higgerson's supervised release. Applying Esteras v. United States, the court held that Higgerson failed to show plain error based on alleged consideration of the excluded sentencing factor of promoting respect for the law under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(2)(A). The court also denied the government's motion to dismiss the appeal as moot because pending fourth-revocation proceedings could be affected by the appeal.

Holdings

1. The appeal was not moot because the legal issue could affect the pending fourth revocation proceedings.
2. Under Esteras v. United States, 145 S. Ct. 2031 (2025), district courts may not consider the sentencing purposes in § 3553(a)(2)(A), including promoting respect for the law, when determining whether to revoke supervised release or the resulting revocation sentence.
3. The district court did not commit plain error because the record did not clearly or obviously show that it relied on § 3553(a)(2)(A), and its comments instead focused on permissible forward-looking purposes and Higgerson's history and characteristics.
4. The 18-month revocation sentence was not substantively unreasonable.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the appeal was moot because Higgerson had completed the custodial portion of the challenged revocation sentence and begun a fourth term of supervised release.
2. Whether the district court plainly erred or imposed a substantively unreasonable revocation sentence by relying on the excluded sentencing factor of promoting respect for the law under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(2)(A).

Disposition

affirmed