Opinion ID: 201247
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Castillo

Text: 13 In theory, requiring repeated drug testing could conceivably inflict a significant burden on supervisees. Therefore, if a drug testing condition is not mentioned at sentencing, defendants might reasonably claim that their right to be present has been violated. Context is critical, however. In this case, as our discussion below indicates, the written judgment simply imposes the same burden on Castillo as his oral sentence directing him to serve a supervised release term. Therefore, there is no material conflict between his written and oral sentences. See id., 353 F.3d at 100 (suggesting that a material conflict exists where the written sentence imposes a potentially significant new burden on the Defendant). 14 Castillo was sentenced in 2002, and drug testing has been a mandatory condition of supervision since 1994. In that year, 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d) was amended to require drug testing as an explicit condition for defendants on supervised release. 18 U.S.C.A. § 3583(d) (2000) (historical and statutory notes); Melendez-Santana, 353 F.3d at 104. In 1997, the United States Sentencing Guidelines were amended accordingly, referencing the mandatory drug testing requirement for the first time. U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 5D1.3(a)(4) (1997); see 18 U.S.C.A. Fed. Sent. Guidelines (2004 Supp. Pamphlet) (historical notes, 1997 Amendments); United States v. Jackson, 189 F.3d 820, 822 (9th Cir.1999) (noting that, prior to the 1997 amendment, courts had discretion to impose a drug testing condition under § 5D1.3(b)). Since their amendment, § 3583(d) and Guideline § 5D1.3(a)(4) have provided defendants facing supervised release terms with constructive notice that they will be required to undergo drug testing during their supervised release terms. See United States v. Paul, 274 F.3d 155, 172 (5th Cir.2001) (holding that the Guidelines give constructive notice of mandatory sex offender registration condition), cert. denied, 535 U.S. 1002, 122 S.Ct. 1571, 152 L.Ed.2d 492 (2002); United States v. Brown, 235 F.3d 2, 4 (1st Cir.2000) (similar; special condition). The statute and guideline also indicate that the only prerequisite for the drug testing condition is that the court impose a supervised release term at sentencing, as it did in this case. Before he was sentenced, moreover, Castillo knew that he would receive a supervised release term and would be subject to certain conditions during that term. At his plea hearing, he was told about the supervised release term, that certain conditions would apply, and that he would be reimprisoned if he violated them. He knew further that his sentence would be determined under the Guidelines. 15 At the sentencing hearing, the court imposed a three-year term of supervised release. It mentioned some of the applicable conditions, but not the mandatory drug testing condition. In its written judgment, the court ordered drug testing. It did not check the box on the judgment form that courts use to suspend or ameliorate the condition in particular cases. 4 16 Thus, the failure to mention drug testing at sentencing appears to have been inadvertent. 17 On these facts, we believe that the reasoning in United States v. Truscello, 168 F.3d 61 (2d Cir.1999), applies. See also United States v. Torres-Aguilar, 352 F.3d 934, 938 (5th Cir.2003) (per curiam) (finding the reasoning in Truscello to be persuasive). In Truscello, the Second Circuit considered whether the sentencing court's failure to mention any conditions at all at sentencing after imposing a term of supervised release precluded it from subsequently including certain mandatory and standard conditions in its written judgment. The court of appeals held that it did not because there was no actual or real inconsistency between the orally imposed term of supervised release and the written judgment specifying the conditions applicable to such term. 5 As it explained, implicit in the very nature of supervision is that conditions are placed on the supervised defendant; thus, in its view, the district court's written judgment merely clarified the ambiguity in the oral sentence. Truscello, 168 F.3d at 63. 18 Castillo contends that he did not have an opportunity at sentencing to object to the drug testing condition. He claims that it was not warranted because he had not used controlled substances for years and because the court did not find him to be at risk for future drug abuse. As noted above, however, only one fact is necessary to trigger application of the drug testing condition — that the district court order a term of supervised release, as it did here at the sentencing hearing. If, in order to alter his otherwise applicable sentence, Castillo had wished to take advantage of the statutory provision allowing amelioration, he should have raised that issue with the court at sentencing and made the appropriate factual argument. 19 In sum, we sustain the written drug testing condition (as amended, see footnote 1 above) because the burden it imposes is consistent with the burden mandated by § 3583(d), of which Castillo had constructive notice. We might reach a different result if a sentencing court were to impose a written drug testing condition, not announced at the sentencing hearing, which orders more drug tests than the minimum three required by the statute. The statute leaves the imposition of additional tests to the discretion of the district court. Ordering drug tests beyond the statutory minimum could conceivably impose a potentially significant new burden on a defendant, Melendez-Santana, 353 F.3d at 100, and defendants might be able to make some argument at sentencing that could influence the court's determination. However, we need not decide that matter now.