Opinion ID: 77575
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Objection-Elicitation Requirement of Jones

Text: 7 Campbell argues that the district court failed to elicit objections after imposing sentence as required by Jones and that this court should vacate and remand for resentencing. The Government argues that Jones is inapplicable to supervised release revocation hearings, the district court nonetheless complied with Jones, and even if it did not, the record is sufficient to enable appellate review of Campbell's other grounds for appeal. 8 In Jones, this court held that after imposing a sentence, the district court must give the parties an opportunity to object to the court's ultimate findings of fact, conclusions of law, and the manner in which the sentence is pronounced, and must elicit a full articulation of the grounds upon which any objection is based. Jones, 899 F.2d at 1102. Under this rule, when a district court fails to elicit objections after imposing a sentence, we normally vacate the sentence and remand to the district court to give the parties an opportunity to present their objections. Id. at 1103. A remand is unnecessary, however, when the record on appeal is sufficient to enable review. United States v. Cruz, 946 F.2d 122, 124 n. 1 (11th Cir.1991). 9 This court has applied the Jones rule to a probation revocation proceeding. United States v. Milano, 32 F.3d 1499, 1503 (11th Cir.1994) (holding that there was no Jones violation in a probation revocation hearing where the district court elicited objections), superseded on other grounds by statute, Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Pub.L. No. 103-322, 108 Stat. 1796, as recognized in United States v. Cook, 291 F.3d 1297, 1300 n. 3 (11th Cir.2002). And this court has held that probation revocation proceedings are conceptually the same as supervised release revocation proceedings. United States v. Frazier, 26 F.3d 110, 113 (11th Cir.1994); see also United States v. Mitsven, 452 F.3d 1264, 1266 n. 1 (11th Cir.2006) (noting that the analysis of the revocation proceedings relating to probation is essentially the same as the analysis of the revocation proceedings relating to supervised release). Accordingly, we hold that the objection-elicitation requirement of Jones is applicable to supervised release revocation proceedings. 10 In applying the Jones rule, this court has held that when the district court merely asks if there is anything further? or anything else? and neither party responds with objections, then the court has failed to elicit fully articulated objections and has therefore violated Jones. United States v. Holloway, 971 F.2d 675, 681 (11th Cir.1992); United States v. Snyder, 941 F.2d 1427, 1428 (11th Cir.1991); cf. United States v. Ramsdale, 179 F.3d 1320, 1324 (11th Cir.1999) (holding that the district court's inquiry of anything else? satisfied Jones where defense counsel stated an objection in response, thereby demonstrating that he understood the court to be eliciting objections). Here, at the conclusion of Campbell's sentencing hearing, the district court informed Campbell of his right to appeal and asked, Is there anything further? In response, neither side raised a fully articulated objection. Defense counsel requested the court to recommend drug treatment and the Government said that it had nothing further. Based on this exchange, there is no indication that defense counsel understood the court to be eliciting objections. See Snyder, 941 F.2d at 1428. Therefore, we hold that the district court failed to comply with the procedure announced in Jones. Moreover, as discussed below, we conclude that the record is insufficient to allow this court to meaningfully review Campbell's remaining grounds for appeal. 11