good morning good morning may it please the court my name is call and stevens i'm here on behalf of the opponent james cleveland many white horses have been representing mr many white horses for a long time so i may periodical refer to him as j c which is what he went by when i knew him in two thousand and seven this is a very unusual case in the senate me i just ask you as are you continuing to represent him in his most recent visit with the court just drove him to browning to go into treatment  yes so it's a it's a very strange case because i think between the united states myself and the district court we have all sort of bent over backwards to help mr many white horses including judge will in the district court the reason we're here today is that judge moore a special condition eleven is just simply a bridge too far in the effort to fulfill the one that says you can't go into a particular town that happens to be on the block f there with the british admission correct but i guess the difficulty is when he goes there then he has a big dust well and so the most the the violation that sort of triggered this particular special condition actually did not occur in browning it happened in great falls which is about i don't know one hundred and twenty thousand one hundred and thirty miles southeast of browning and let me get it straight because i mean we're talking about a reasonably large expanse here but i thought that the district court had said that virtually all of these violations had occurred in browning that's correct and there's other places that he can go without any permission correct that's correct i mean especially he can go anywhere in montana we have and then on the blackfeet reservation itself there's a tiny little speck of a town called hart butte and then there's essentially a collection of trailers called blackfeet that have no services whatsoever browning is literally what i would refer to and i think what all of us montanans would refer to as the capital of the blackfeet reservation it has the sweat lodges it has the indian health service it has the blackfeet community college there's a u s probation office in browning everything that about everything about the blackfeet reservation is in browning p you could fairly say of substantial predicate for the imposition of the condition word well again i think it it comes down to sort of correlation versus causation mr many white horses is a method fed  e addict again the the violation the triggered special condition eleven was that he used meth in great falls which is off the blackfeet reservation got very paranoid about the folks he was with in great falls and drove back to the reservation in sort of just horrible weather conditions to sort of seek refuge in browning there he met his mother his mother was the one who ultimately notified the probation office so browning for mr many white horses a certainly a double edged sword it's got a lot of positives how would you have framed this condition personally i would not have imposed this condition i thought oh i think there are at least three other conditions your honor that would sufficiently satisfy in theory i'm not saying that they've satisfied them to date but there are three other conditions that would have covered the sort of the rehabilitat as and what role that of those conditions just to refresh us that you think would collectively meet all the necessary public protection deterrence etc the absolute prohibition against obviously illegal matthews testing and treatment you know i think those three commissioners but you yourself as indicated that the district court bend over backward everybody here wants to help jaycee or mr mean why hoarders but up to now nothing has been very successful so you have an instance where he wanted to go to browning and was refused so the the most and i'm getting a bit confused with his his revocations that i think the most recent one that the government is part of the government supplemental excerpts of record he attempted to go to browning and through a sort of a series of unfortunate events he never actually received full permission and i don't know i have limited time as does the one i'm not going to go into that sort of comedy of errors that existed there but it wasn't that he was refused it was just essentially that the chain of communication broke down between mr many white horses and his probation officer and that ultimately resulted in again a revocation and use this condition again because it's unique it's different than the conditions that have been addressed before in u s versus alexander and the like cost decision that was it was decided by this court that the the distinctive factors are obviously that mr many white horses is an enrolled member of the blackfeet tribe and this specific condition is it doesn't preclude him from going to browning but it again requires him to go sort of to seek permission from the government to think it's i would argue that because of the religious implications and the other abilities that it's abuse of discretion plus ok stevens's i got your argument you say that judge moore i was too focused on factors other than deterrence rehabilitation and his connection to his indigenous roots i e deprivation of tribal council of the black white community college  medical services and the closeness to his mother cracked and you say in fact this is going to hurt his attempts at rehabilitation as i understand it and you say that unlike watson because wat think the circuit is approved you can't go there because you're more likely to commit crimes that's kind of and that's the deterrence rehabilitation but you say that here this was quote substantive unreasonable because it over emphasizes that over his connection to the community and it's the only town as i understand in the entire reservation essentially yes your honor ok i mean the heart butte is a town but there's not much there and you say unlike watson which the circuit said were contrived reasons that the defendant presented to get out of the restriction different because there is no evidence that mr watson was was native had some sort of interconnection to san francisco that he couldn't get anywhere else unlike here with mr many white horses where again you have the religious implications of the sweat lodge and the artifacts in the sacred areas of the blackfeet reservation for which you can go if he asked permission to try to access those who are it's not a ban but no and no i would not say it's an outright ban but it is it could be potentially a de facto ban depending on the the whim of his program if if you have come on a different record and maybe there would be a different record in the future where you had an unreasonable probation officer who said no no no no no then that would be the argument you just made but we don't it has the potential to be abused but it has not yet been abused correct i would say that's correct your honor if you want to save your remaining time if i may rehabilitation neither his tribal status nor the sovereignty of the feet nation changes that legal analysis in this sentence should be affirmed this condition does not infringe upon a fundamental right it is not a banishment it does not restrict mr many white horses from accessing tribal resources or fully engaged in his tribal identity rather it is an extra level of supervision required based on mr white horses conduct to ensure that he does not have unfettered access to bad influences which he has repeatedly shown place both himself and the community at risk of harm this condition of supervised release and it's limited restriction on mr many white horses movements it does not infringe on the blackfeet tribal sovereignty and its right to exclude or include individuals from the reservation rather it's an appropriate exercise of judicial authority to help an individual on supervised release become rehabilitated ar there drug rehabilitation resources available on the block for other than in brunei no your honor the drug and alcohol treatment reservation on the reservation is crystal creek and that is located in like feet or in browning rather know the answer my question is yes there are there are places other than browning where he could go for drug rehab no you and i apologize crystal creek is the name of it it's located in browning and that's that is that in fact the treatment center that judge malloy ordered him to go to that leads to my question sort of jumping off of what judge pratt asked your own why couldn't the condition have been more refined your not to go to brownie except for drug rehabilitation purposes to visit your mother why couldn't a been for him that way well i think that judge malloy structured it based on his history with him to try and address those concerns that you mention he does assign him he does require him to go to crystal creek for treatment he doesn't invision not being able to built into the overall condition yes is an allowance for him to go to crystal yes your honor and he  his mother but he doesn't need permission to go to crystal creek is that correct correct your honor that that was i think condition number twelve was that he had to go to crystal creek and land a visit his mother and he would have to seek permission here yes that is  that is included in condition number eleven but it's not the probation officer or his mother permission of his of the probation officer that was an attempt one would assume he would need the permission of his mother as well sounds like she keeps tries to keep a handle on him so judge malloy has known mr money white horses for eleven years for the past five years he has worked with mr many white horses mr many white horses counsel and the probation officer in an attempt to help mr many white horses exceed him wants him to be successful with the th revocation before him judge moore he could have thrown in the towel he could have sentenced him because a lot of folk to him and said you can get drug treatment in the of the department of prisons absolutely your honor and that's what the government recommended was a high high sentence of thirty six months followed by no supervision and judgment we could have done that and some judges may have done that but he gave him one more chance well too now because he's had his they said a nd yes yes your honor that's exactly right he could have sentenced him to a long term of incarceration but judging from the way recognise that term united states penitentiary would not help mr many white horses succeed and that is what judge malloy wants ultimately that is all judgment away once he desperately wants to see mr many white horses succeed that is why he drafted this condition he knows mr many white horses tribal identity is important to him and that's why he required treatment at the crystal creek center and i understand that he's there now following that th revocation but he also knows browning can be a place of temptation and negative influence for mr many white horses he crafted this condition in order to provide that extra layer of supervision to ensure mr many white horses does not continue to residence i know the probation officer would like to see him reside in perhaps great falls which is two hours from that reservation where he can get a job there the probation office has a great deal of connections within the community there of course is also the prerelease there that can help people get jobs and so my understanding is that it's where they'd like to see him released to after treatment but right now his plan is in patient treatment is he a veteran i don't believe so i don't know  access browning might be a problem in terms of the probation office and the defendant it shouldn't be a problem because mr many way horses has had consistent contact i mean the same probation officer has worked with him for most of most of these revocations i know that there has been a new probation officer up there as well i've noticed in my own experience my intent usually doesn't lead to a performance by the court of appeals i'm interested i think it is a great judge but here's my question doesn't it affirmatively work against his looking forward that little the two sion to prohibit contact with the mother who seems to be such an important figure in his life getting treatment being considered part of the blackwood nation well again none of that contact is supposed to be precluded it's only that they need to have contact with probation in fact as mr stevens mentions you know in the january incident of two thousand and nineteen in which he drove in the middle of the snowstorm judge malloy specifically cites that as an example at least of the probation officer knew he was going to visit his mother up there somebody would know that he is in a potentially dangerous situation where he could have you know come off the road and been stranded in a snowstorm so again the probation officer can work with mr many white horses and wants to to allow that contact it just has to be under supervision you just have to ask the united states exactly your honor and that again this was not an abuse of discretion your honour's rather this was an exercise of wisdom and discernment by a judge deeply vested in mr many white horses rehabilitation did he make any argument that he didn't have access to his probation officer and therefore couldn't ask for permission i'm not aware  because this is such an act of discernment by the judge who knows mr many white horses for such a long time we would ask that the sentence be affirmed pending further questions the government would rest on our brief argument thank you regarding the residence he has no where to live other than browning when he was released from prison after special condition eleven was imposed they essentially dropped him at great falls he took the opi facility to great falls was released and was effectively homeless in the homeless shelter while he tried to get his act together to find a place to reside now but for the condition he could have been picked up at the bus station and impose a special condition eleven is imposed i file my appeal mr many white horses gets out on the six months that was opposed and then he violates shortly there after so it would be that particular revelation probably leads into my next question which is given his propensity if we might call it that you didn't have time to go in and asked for a modification of the condition because you had him for example or he had a place a residential plan of where he might live that's yes that's absolutely correct i just i didn't know that he was back from v o p until he got revoked again i would just note that in addition to his mother there are other important figures to mr many white horses in browning he has uncles there they're deeply spiritual they're sort of elders of the tribe and they matter to him and just to conclude your honour's there's nothing unique about m many white horses numerous violations that are unique to browning thirty unique to math and he found it in great falls he can find it in browning sadly he can find it anywhere in montana and so i just think as i said special condition eleven is just a bridge too far thank you thank you both for the argument this morning and also coming over from montana united states versus many white horses is submitted