2013 D e c i sion s O p inion s of the U nit e d S t a t e s C our t of Appe al s for the Thir d C ir c uit

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# U S A v . M eli s s a H ick s

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w . v i l l a no v a . e du/thir dc ir c uit_2013/1387NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

_____________

No. 12

- 1747

_____________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v. MELISSA HICKS, Appellant

_______________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (D.C. No. 05

- cr - 000 19

- 1 ) District Judge: Hon. Maurice B. Cohill, Jr.

_______________ Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) January 10, 2013 Before: RENDELL, FISHER, and JORDAN , Circuit Judges

. (Filed : January 1 4, 2013 )

_______________ OPINION OF THE COURT

_______________2 JORDAN, Circuit Judge

. Melissa Hicks 1

I. Background appeals an order by the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania revoking her supervised release and sentencing her to 60 months’ imprisonment. For the following reasons, we will affirm.

Hicks has had a remarkable criminal career, with more than 40 convictions for theft, forgery, an d related crimes since her first conviction at the age of 20. Most

recent ly, on May 3 , 2006 , she pled guilty in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to one count of conspiracy to defraud the Unite d States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (Count 1) ; eight counts of possessing counterfeit

secu rities, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 513(a) (Counts 2

- 9) ; and one count of possession of five or more identification documents with the intent to use them unlawfully, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028(a)(3) (Count 10) . Those charges arose from Hicks’s repea ted efforts

to purchase me rchandise through identity theft and the use of fraudulent checks , and t hey
resulted in a sentence of 60 months ’ imprisonment for Counts 2

- 9 and 30 months ’ imprisonment for Counts 1 and 10, all to be served concurrently. The Dist rict Court also sentenced Hicks to a three

- year term of supervised release and ordered her to pay $15,751.87 in restitution. On September 12, 2010, Hicks concluded her prison sentence and began her period of supervised release. Seventeen months lat er, on February 10 , 2012, she was

1 Hicks’s legal name is now Roiann Johnson.3 arrested in Tennessee after a search of the car in which s he was a passenger uncovered evidence of identity theft and other fraud ulent activity . Specifically, investigating officers discovered a wallet containing 60 diffe rent drivers’ licenses , Social S ecurity cards, and other identification documents in a suitcase in the trunk of the car

. In addition,

t hey found a shoe box containing various W

- 2 forms, birth cer tificates, and checks, again
in the names of many different individuals. The box also contained handwritten lists of

names, birth dates , Social Security numbe rs, and checking account numbers

. After providing contradictory statements to police and admitting to ownershi p of some of the documents , Hicks was charged under Tennessee law with 60 counts of identity theft. The driver of the vehicle, Ricardo Dutrieculle, was also arrested and was later discovered to be a convicted felon

. Five days later , the District Court issued a w arrant for Hicks’s arrest due to mul tiple violations of the terms of her supervised release. According to a petition filed with the Court by Hicks’s probation officer, she had violated four different conditions of her release , namely that (1) “[t]he defendant shall not commit another federa l, state or local crime”; (2 ) “the defendant shall not leave the judicial district without the permission of the co urt or probation officer ” ; (3 ) “the defendant shall not associate with any persons engaged in criminal activity and shall not associate with any person convicted of a felony, unless granted permission to do so by the probation officer; ” and (4) the4 defendant shall “refrain from any unlawful use of a controlled substance.” 2

On February 29, 2012, t he Distric t Court he ld a hearing to consider the possible revocation of Hicks’ s supervised release. At that hear ing, Hicks conceded that she left Pennsylvania without permission , in violat ion of the terms of her release , and that she had used a controlled substance. She cla imed that she had n ot, h owever, committed another crime. She further argued that she had been unaware that Dutrieculle had a criminal history, and she said that her cocaine use should not be considered a violation of supervised release because her probati on officer had already addressed that issue by mandating substance abuse counseling. (App. at 141

- 42 , 146 .)

In response, th e g overnment presented evidence t hat Hicks was guilty of multiple
fo rms of fraud and identit y theft. In addition to introducing into evidence the myri ad documents seized in the search , the g overnment c alled three live witnesses: David Danko, Hicks’s probation officer; Darren Earle, a Secret Service a gent who inve stigated the Tennessee incident; and David Anderchak, a Postal Inspector who had been conduc ting an independent federal investigation of Hicks prior to her arrest. Officer Danko testified regarding Hicks’s drug use and presented evidence that Dutrieculle was her neighbor, suggesting that she likely knew of his criminal record. Agent Earle descr ibed his investigation of the Tennessee incident and explained that all three adults in the vehicle initially provided false names to police, that Hicks claimed partial ownership over the

2 The first three of those alleged violations arose from the Tennessee incident. The violation of the drug use restriction was based on Hicks’s testing positive for cocaine on two occasions in 2011.5 suitcase in which the wallet containing the identification cards was discovered , and that Hicks initially denied knowledge of the cards and documents but admitted to having handled them once she was reminded that police could analyze them for fingerprints. Inspector Anderchak then described a series of earlier incidents i n Pennsylvania in which
Hicks attempted to deposit other people’s tax refund checks into her account with Citizens Bank

. The names on the checks , which were introduced into evidence, matched the names on several of the cards seized during the Tennessee in cident

. Inspector And e r chak also testified that he had contacted several of the individual s named on the checks , all of whom denied having given Hicks permission to file a tax return on their behalf, much less deposit their tax refunds into her account

. 3
Hicks raised a blanket objection to all of the evidence relating to those new criminal offense s , citing due process concerns

. S he also sought a “standing objection to all ... statements that elicit hearsay.” (App. at 170 .) The Court permitted the “s tan ding objection , ” but admitted all of the g overnment’s evidence, concluding that , due to the nature of the revocation proceeding , it would “consider any evidence with respect to [ the ] alleged violations in Tennessee

. ” ( App. at 168

- 69). The Court also summ arily denied a renewed hearsay objection that Hicks made to Inspector Anderchak’s testimony regarding the additional federal crimes

. At the conclusion of the hearing , the Court agreed with the g overnment that Hicks had violated four diff erent terms of her supervised released

. One of those violations

–

3 Hicks maintains that she is innocent of any criminal allegatio ns, but does not specifically dispute the accuracy of any of that evidence.6 Hicks’s commission of another crime

– constituted a “Gr ade B” violation, 4 which mandated revocation of her supervis ed release. U.S.S.G. § § 7B1.1(a)(2) , 7B1.3(a)(1)

. T he Court then sente nced Hicks to a six

- month term of imprisonment on each of her ten original counts, to be served consecutively for a total of 60 months’ imprisonment. That sentence was a significant upward departure from the United States Sentencing Guidelines ’ recommende d range of 21 to 27 months’ imprisonment, U.S.S.G. § 7B1.4, but it was well below the statutory maximum of two years per count , 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3). 5

This timely appeal followed. In reaching its decision, the Court considered the factors enumerated in 18 U.S.C. § 3553 (a) and empha sized that Hicks’s history of recidivism demonstrated the need for a lengthy prison term.

II. Discussion 6 Hicks argues on appeal that the District Court erred by admitting unreliable hearsa y evidence, by concluding on ins ufficient evide nce that she had violated the conditions of her supervised release, and by imposing an unreasonable sentence. She also claims that the overall evidentiary standard applied at the revocation hearing violated
h er due process rights. We addre ss each of those assertions in turn

.

4 The other violations were all Grade C violations. U.S.S.G. § 7B1.1(a)(3).

5 T he sentence was also below the g overnment’s recommended sentence of one year per original co unt, for a total of ten years’ imprisonment.

6 The District Court had jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3231. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a).7 A. Reliability of the Hearsay Evidence As both parties agree, the Federal Rules of Evidence do not apply to proceedings revoking supervised release, and thus hearsay evidence can be admissible in such proceedings when the interest of justice so permits . Fed. R. Evid. 1101(d)(3); Fed. R. Crim. Pro

. 32 .1(b)(1)(B)(iii); see also Morrissey v. Brewer , 408 U.S. 471, 489 (1972) (concluding “letters, affidavits, and other material that would not be admissible in an adversary criminal trial” can be admissible in a revocat ion hearing). But hearsay is not categorically admissible, and “due process requires that supervised releasees retain at least a limited right to confront adverse witnesses in a revocation hearing.” United St ates v. Lloyd , 566 F.3d 341, 343

- 4 4 (3d Cir. 2009). To determine when hearsay evidence is admissible , we have developed a balancing test that “consider[s] both the reliability of the proffered hearsay and the cause why a witness is not produced.” Id. at 344. Although we generally review a district court’s application of that test for abuse of discretion, if the district c ourt “made no attempt to conduct the analysis ” we review the admissibility of hearsay evidence de novo

. Id. Here, the District Court denied Hicks’ s objections and admitted all of the g overnment’s evide nce , without any stated analysis of the defendant’s right to confrontation

. 7

7 The District Court’s discussion of its evidentiary rulings was as follows: We therefore review the admissibility of the contested evidence de novo

.

I think this is a different kind of a proceeding. It’s not unlike where the government may bring a criminal charge and at the same time bring a civil charge for a violation of someone’s civil rights where the basic charge is the same. I think maybe8 Under the Lloyd balancing test, the g overnment must typically “provide good cause for a hearsay declarant’s absence ” in order to justify denial of a defendant’s right to confrontation. Id. at 3 45. Lloyd rejected, however, “a per se rule that a district court’s failure to explicitly add ress cause amounts to reversible error in all cases.” Id. Rather, we recognized that “[i]n some cases, the [defendant’s] interest in confrontation may be overwhelmed by the hears ay’s reliability such that the g overnment need not show cause for a declaran t’s absence .” Id. In determining whether that threshold is met, t he relevant inquiry is whether the indicia of reliability rise to such a level that the defendant effectively has no legitimate interest in confronting the absent witness. Id. Indicia of reliability include whether the hearsay is “given under oath, replete with detail, or supported by corroborating evidence.” Id. (citations omitted). On the other hand, hearsay is unreliable when it “reflect[s] an adversarial relationship with the accused or contain[ s] multiple layers of hearsay .” Id. (citations omitted). During her r evocation hearing, Hicks made a blanket objection to “all ... statements that elicit hearsay,” which the District Court denied. (App. at 170.) On appeal, she reiterates that generalized objecti on, but specifically challenges the admissibility of only two categories of out

- of

- court statements , both of which she also specifically objected to during the hearing

. N amely , she objects to state ments made by a

that analogy would apply here. So I’m going to consider any evidence with respect to alleged violations in Tennessee. (App. at 168

- 69.) While t hat statement is not perfectly akin to the erroneous assumption in Lloyd that “hearsay is catego rically admissible in revocation proceedings,” 566 F.3d at 344 , it does not provide any analysis of why the hearsay here should be permitted

.9 Tennessee law enforcem ent officer and relayed by Secret Service Agent Earle regarding the search of the vehicle , and statements made by bank employees and others who were interviewed by Postal Inspector David And e r chak

. 8

Hicks’s objection to the evidence uncovered i n the Tennessee incident hinge s on Agent Earle’s lack of “first

- hand knowledge of Ms. Hicks’ arrest and search of the car,” and more specifically his lack of personal knowl edge of the exact location in the car in which the incriminating documents were found. (Appellant’s Opening Br. at 28; see also id. at 29

- 31 (describing the importance of the location of the documents); id. at 33 (“The In denying Hicks’s objections to

te stimony regarding tho se statements, the District Court did not consider whether there

was cause for the declarants’ absence, and the g overnment did not suggest any possible causes prior to this appeal. Therefore, in order for the statements to have been properly admitted, the y must be sufficiently reliabl e to “overwhelm” Hicks’s interest in confronting the absent witness. Lloyd , 566 F.3d at 345. We turn , then, to whether each of the contested categories of statements meet s that reliability threshold.
1. Statements Re lied on by Secret Service Agent Earle

8 Because of Hicks’s blanket objection to all of the testimony regarding her alleged additional crimes, the gover nment explains in its briefing why each piece of evidence it presented either is not hearsay or is reliable under Lloyd . We do not conduct the same comprehensive analysis because Hicks does not actually discuss the admissibility of most of the evidence th at Agent Earle and Inspector Anderchak presented. For example, she raises no objection in her briefing (and made no specific objection at the revocation hearing) to the admissibility of the seized documents themselves. Despite the District Court’s recogn ition of Hicks’s “standing objection” to all of the evidence presented, we do not need to examine on appeal the admissibility of evidence that Hicks has never specifically challenged. See John Wyeth & Bro. Ltd. v. CIGNA Int’l Corp. , 119 F.3d 1070, 1076 (3 d Cir. 1997) (“[A]rguments raised in passing (such as, in a footnote), but not squarely argued, are considered waived.”)10 agent could not state where [the doc uments] were in the car, where they were located in relation to the occupants or where they were among the personal belongings of the five occupants.”).) Agent Earle learned of the seizure of the documents and of the circumstances of the search from his c onversations with Detective Chad Ownby , the Tennessee Sheriff’s Deputy who conducted the search, and from an affidavit made by the
D etective on the day of Hicks’s arrest

. As the g overnment concedes, Detective Ow nby’s affidavit and his statements to Agent Earle are hearsay , and thus they must meet the Lloyd requirements to have been properly admitted.
In Lloyd , we explained that evidence is generally reliable if it is “given under oath, replete with detail, or supported by corroborating evidence.” 566 F .3d at 345 (citations omitted)

. Detective Ownby’s affidavit has all of those indi cia of reliability

. First, it was given under oath, and Hicks suggests no reason to question Detective Ownby’s truthfulness. Cf. id. (identifying an adversarial relationshi p between the declarant and the accused that called into question the reliability of the statements). Second, it is relatively detailed, including the specific types and numbers of documents discovered in the search of the car

. Third , and most importantl y, the affidavit is corroborated by substantial evidence. In statements she made directly to Agent Earle, Hicks herself corroborat ed that the documents were found in the car and that she possessed at least some of them

. 9

9 To the extent that Hicks contests the admissibility of her statements to Agent Earle, they are statements by a party opponent and are thus excluded from the hearsay bar by Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d). ( See,
e.g. , App. at 185 (describi ng how Hicks claimed ownership of some of the documents).)11 Moreover, the documents themselves provide powerful corroboration of Detective Ownby’s suggestions in his affidavit that they were located in the car and possibly belonged to Hicks. Several of th e credit cards and other identification cards seized in the search bore the same names as those on the tax refund checks that Hicks had deposited a few weeks earlier , and other seized documents were issu ed in names that Hicks had previously assumed . T hat corroborating evidence and the other indicia of reliability make Detective Ownby’s affidavit highly reliable, such that H icks has no significant interest in cross

- examining him regarding the exact locations in which he found the documents. 10

Detective Ownby’s additional statements outsid e of his affidavit are similarly reliable. B ased on his conversations with the Detective , Agent Earle testified that the majority of the seized cards were found in a “pink and orange wallet” located in a suitcase in the trunk filled with female clothing , and that the remainder of the documents were in a shoe box in the trunk. (App. at 182.) Hicks does not challenge the accuracy of that testimony, but rather argues that she should have h ad an opportunity to rebut its See Lloyd , 566 F.3d at 345 (“In some cases, the [defendant’s] interest in confrontation may be overwhelmed by the hears ay’s reliability such that the g overnment need not show cause for a declarant’s absence.”).

10 Hicks argues that the affidavit is unreliable because it “contain[s] multiple layers of hearsay.” (Appellant’s Opening Br. at 30.) Most of the affidavit consists of Detecti ve Ownby’s personal observations, which do not constitute hearsay within hearsay. Although some statements within it are based on Hicks’s out

- of

- court statements to the Detective, ( see, e.g. , App. at 234 (including statements such as “Ms. Hicks and Mr. Du trieculle shared a piece of luggage,” which is based on an earlier statement by Hicks)), those are also not hearsay because Hicks is a party opponent. Fed. R. Evid. 801(d). Thus, none of the parts of the affidavit relied on by Agent Earle contain multipl e layers of hearsay.12 implications through a cross

- examin ati on of Detective Ownby. Just as with the affidavit , however, that interest in confronting the declarant is overwhelmed by t he reliability of the evidence

. Although Detective Ownby’s statements were not under oath, they are substantially corroborated by ot her evidence. Hicks discussed the pink and orange wallet and the shoe box of documents directly with Agent Earle , and she never disputes that they were found in the trunk of the car in which she was a passenger. Hicks has not pointed to any circumstances undermining the reliability of the statements, other than Agent Earle ’s lack of personal knowledge o f the underlying facts

. See Lloyd , 566 F.3d at
345 (describing potential indicia of unreliability)

. Detective Ownby’s statements describing his search ar e , in sum, highly reliable , and Agent Earle’s testimony regarding them was properly admitted. 11
2. Statements Relied o n by Postal Inspector David Ande r chak Hicks also objects to Postal Inspector David And e r chak’s testimony regarding Hicks’s all eged scheme to deposit other people’s tax refund checks into her bank account. Specifically, Hicks m aintains that the g overnment should hav e presented as live

11 Fundamentally, Hicks’s objections to the evidence of the Tennessee incident relate more to its sufficiency than to its reliability. For example, she emphasizes that “[t]he documents and identification ca rds were not found on [ her] person ... or in an area of the car that was exclusive to her.” (Appellant’s Opening Br. at 29.) That assertion is indisputably true; no evidence

– hearsay or otherwise

– is to the contrary. That fact, however, does not make descriptions of where the evidence was found (namely, in a wallet in a suitcase and in a shoe box in the trunk of the car) inadmissible. Rather, as Hicks’s attorney asserted during her cross

- examination of Agent Earle, the fact that document s were found in the trunk leaves open t he possibility that the documents belonged to one of the other people in the vehicle. Whether the evidence as a whole is persuasive enough to effectively rule out that possibility is a question of sufficiency, not of admissibility, and is addressed herein , see infra Part II.B.13 witnesses the bank employees and the individuals whose refund checks Hicks tried to deposit, rat her th an only providing Inspector And e r chak’s descriptions of his conversations with those individuals

. The g overnment responds that onl y a small part of Inspector And e r chak’s testimony was actually hearsay, and that the rest of the evidence
in the record corroborated those out

- of

- court statements such that they were reliable enough to be admissible. We agree that all of the contested hearsay evidence is substantially corroborated by other evidence. The stateme nts by bank employees consisted of a n emai l summary of

numerous checks that Hicks tried to deposit and a description of one particular incident in which Hicks and another woman attempted to cash a check made out to “Markeyla Tompkins , ” using fraudulent identification. The email summary is corrobo rated by the checks themselves and by surveillance photos showing Hicks at Citizens Bank attempting

to depos it them. That evidence also corroborates the description of the Markeyla Tompkins impersonation, as does Hicks’s own admission that she deposited T ompkin s ’s check into her account. Furthermore, although the individuals whose tax refund checks Hicks deposited (or tried to deposit) were not presented as witnesses at the proceeding, Inspector Anderchak testified that they all denied that they had given Hicks permission to file tax returns on their behalf , which is supported inferentially by Hicks’s own statement to Agent Earle that she did not fil e tax returns for those individuals

. Given those substantial indicia of reliability, Inspector Anderchak’s testimony was also properly admitted into evidence.14 B. Sufficiency of the Evidence of the Supervised Release Violations 12 Hicks next claims that the evidence presented at the revocation proceeding was insufficient to establish her alleged viola tions. Although the District C our t needed only to find by a preponderance of the evidence that she violated the conditions of her release, 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3); see also United States v. Maloney , 513 F.3d 350, 354 (3d Cir. 2008) , Hicks argues that the g overnment has failed to meet even that lo wered evidentiary burden for any of her three contested violations. 13

12 We review the District Court’s decision to revoke supervised release for abuse of discretion. United States v. Maloney , 513 F.3d 350, 354 (3d Cir. 2008). Under that standard, “the factual findings supporting that decision are reviewed for clear error; legal issues are subject to de novo review.” Id. She claims that she was “factually in compliance” with the condition that she “refrain” from drug use because she complied with her substance ab use program and, under the circumstances, “relapse and treatment [were] to be expected.” (Appellant’s Opening Br. at 35.) With regard to the bar on associating with a person “engaged in criminal activity,” she argues that the g overnment has not establish ed that she knew that Dutrieculle had a criminal record or that he was engaged in a criminal activity. ( Id. at 36.) Finally, altho ugh Hicks concedes that “ [ t ] he
g overnment presented many pieces of identification ... as well as documents pertaining

13 As noted above, Hicks concedes, as she must, that she left the state without the permission of her probation officer. Although even one violation of her supervised releas e can sometimes be sufficient to justify revocation of supervised release, see United States v. McCormick , 54 F.3d 214, 219 n.3 (5th Cir. 1995) (concluding that if there is an “adequate basis” for revocation the reviewing court need not review the sufficie ncy of other contested grounds), the District Court did not place significant weight on that particular violation in reaching its decision. ( See App. at 228

- 30 (emphasizing the Grade B violation and Hicks’s new incidents of criminal conduct, and not menti oning her departure from the state).) It was not by itself the b asis for revocation, and we thus assess the evidence of Hicks’s other alleged violations.15 to tax r eturns and banking,” and that those documents “may appear [suspicious] as a group,” she argues that the g overnment failed to demonstrate her possession of the documents and thus did not establish by a preponderance of the evidence that she committed anothe r crime. ( Id. at 37.) We disagree, and conclude that there is ample evidence to support each of Hicks’s alleged violatio ns. She cites no authority for her proposition that undergoing drug treatment is equivalent to actually “refrain [ing] from any unlaw ful use of a controlled substance,” as she was required to do under the terms of her supervised release. (App . at 141

- 42.) As to Hicks’s understanding of Dutrieculle’s criminal activities, even if she had been unaware of his felony convictions, she knew he was “engaged in criminal activity” due to his role in the Tennessee incident. ( Id. ) Hicks herself told police that Dutrieculle was also in possession of the suitcase in which the identification cards were discovered, and she claimed that he was the ow ner of the cards. Dutrieculle also provided a false name when initially stopped. That evidence is sufficient for the District Court to conclude that he was likely engaged in criminal activity alongside Hicks and that she knew it

. The g ove rnment has al so produced substantial evidence that Hicks committed “another federal, state or local crime.” ( Id. ) It is a violation of Tennessee law to knowingly possess a means of identification of another person without lawful authority

a nd with the intent to commi t an unlawful act ivity. Tenn. Code § 39

- 14

- 150(b ). Sixty identification cards belonging to people other than Hicks were seized from a car in which Hicks was a passenger. She claimed partial ownership of the suitcase in which they were16 discovered , she ad mitted to handling the cards, and several of the them bore the names of people whose checks she had deposited into her checking account two months earlier. That evidence is certainly sufficient to make it more likely than not that Hicks possessed the card s. Onc e possession is established, her intent to commit an unla wful activity is readily apparent . As Hicks admits, the sheer number of forms of identification f ound in the car was suspicious. Moreover, Hicks provided a false name at the time of her arre st, and she is an experience d identity thief. The District Court theref ore cannot be said to have abused its discretion in finding by a preponderance of the evidence that Hicks committed another crime during her term of supervised release. 14
C. Reasonableness of the Sentence Hicks argues that her sentence of 60 months’ imprisonment, although “technically legal,” is substantively unreasonable. (Appellant’s Opening Br. at 43

- 4 5.) She claims that serving consecutive six

- month sentences o n ea ch original count produces a total term of imprisonment that is great er than n ecessary . When, as here, there is no procedural challenge to a district court’s sentence, “we must give due deference to the district court’s determination,” and we will uphold the sentence “unless no reasonable sentencing court would have imposed the same sentence on that particular defendant for the reasons the district court provided.” United States v. Tomko , 562 F.3d 558, 568 (3d Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks omitted) . Here, t he

14 Even if there had been insufficient evidence of a violation of Tennessee law, the government pro duced substantial evidence that Hicks committed bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344, by depositing other people’s tax refund checks.17 District Court considered the totality of the circumstances and concluded that a total sentence of 60 months’ imprisonment “afford[s] adequate deterrence to criminal conduct [and] protect[s] the public from further crimes of the defendant.” ( App. at 229.) In light of Hicks’s dozens of prior convictions on similar charges, we cannot say that no reasonable sentencing court would have reach ed that conclusion.
D. Due Process Concerns Finally, Hicks claims that the overall evidentiary standard applied at the revocation hearing violated her due process rights

. 15

Although Hicks is correct t hat “a parolee’s liberty cannot be revoked without due
pr ocess,” Lloyd , 566 F.3d at 343 , she disrega rds clear precedent defining the scope of that That assertion is based on her contention that when a proceeding could result in a significant prison sentence, both due process and “fundamental fairness” require protections similar to those provided at a criminal trial

. S pecifically, Hicks argues that because she faced “ a potential sentence of up to 20 ye ars, ” she should have had the abilit y to confro nt her accusers , and the
g overnment should have had to prove beyond a reasonable doub t that she violated the terms of her supervised release

. (Appellant’s Opening Br. at 42.) In Hicks’s view, b y only imposing a “preponderance of the evidence” burden of proof and by allegedly denying her the right to confro ntation, the District Court depr ived her of her constitutional right to due process under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the United States Constitution

.

15 We have plenary review over Hicks’s due process claims. See United States v. Dees , 467 F.3d 847, 854 (3d Ci r. 2006) (exercising plenary review over a criminal defendant’s Fifth and Sixth Amendment challenges to his sentence).18 protection. In Morrissey v. Brewer , the Supr eme Court held that a defendant in a parole revocation proceeding does not enjoy “the full panoply of rights” due a cr iminal defendant. 408 U.S. at 480 . That dimi ni shed protection is justified by the government’s “overwhelming interest in being able to return the individual to imprisonment without the burden of a new adversary criminal trial if in fact he has failed to abide by the conditions of his parole.” Id. a t 483. Accordingly, we have concluded that a violation of supervised release may be established “by a preponderance of the evidence standard rather than a reasonable doubt standard,” Dees , 467 F.3d at 854, and we have identified a “limited right to confro ntation” of witnesses that can be “overwhelmed” when evidence is sufficiently reliable, Lloyd , 566 F.3d at 343, 345. Hicks thus received all the process she was due, and the District Court did not err in revoking her supervised release and re

imprisoning her on her original counts of conviction.
III. Conclusion For the forgoing reasons, we will affirm the revocation of supervised release and the sentence imposed by the District Court.