Opinion ID: 200235
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Delegation Argument

Text: 12 Finally, Allen claims that Judge Hornby impermissibly delegated judicial authority to the probation officer when he ordered, as a special condition of supervised release, that [d]efendant shall participate in a program of mental health treatment, as directed by the probation officer, until such time as the defendant is released from the program by the probation officer. According to Allen, this condition is an unlawful delegation because it empowers the probation officer to decide whether and for how long Allen must participate in mental health treatment. 13 While [c]ases or controversies committed to Art. III courts cannot be delegated to nonjudicial officers for resolution[,][t]hat general principle does not ... prohibit courts from using nonjudicial officers to support judicial functions, as long as that judicial officer retains and exercises ultimate responsibility. United States v. Johnson, 48 F.3d 806, 809 (4th Cir.1995); see also United States v. Raddatz, 447 U.S. 667, 683, 100 S.Ct. 2406, 65 L.Ed.2d 424 (1980) (holding that so long as the ultimate decision is made by the district court, delegation to a magistrate judge does not violate Article III); cf. United States v. Merric, 166 F.3d 406, 409 (1st Cir.1999) (vacating a sentence in which the judge delegated final authority over defendant's fine payment schedule to the probation officer). Allen relies on cases outside this Circuit for his claim that this special condition amounted to an unlawful delegation. See United States v. Peterson, 248 F.3d 79 (2d Cir.2001); United States v. Kent, 209 F.3d 1073 (8th Cir.2000). Unlike Allen, we do not read these opinions as announcing — nor do we adopt — a general rule that counseling clauses such as the one before us are prohibited. However, these cases do provide persuasive guidance for the proposition that special conditions of probation should be evaluated in light of the facts of the case as reflected by the entire record. In Kent, the Eighth Circuit vacated the district court's imposition of a special condition requiring the defendant to attend psychological counseling because it appeared that the probation officer, as opposed to the court, would retain and exercise ultimate responsibility over the situation. Kent, 209 F.3d at 1079. Crucially, the court made this determination after examining the entire record and finding both that the trial judge had stated outright that the parole officer would be the one to determine whether defendant had to attend counseling and that the record did not demonstrate that the defendant had mental health problems. Id. at 1075, 1078-79. Citing to Kent, the Second Circuit provided a concise rule for delegations of psychiatric counseling: 14 If [the defendant] is required to participate in a mental health intervention only if directed to do so by his probation officer, then this special condition constitutes an impermissible delegation of judicial authority to the probation officer. On the other hand, if the District Court was intending nothing more than to delegate to the probation officer details with respect to the selection and schedule of the program, such delegation was proper. 15 Peterson, 248 F.3d at 85 (citations omitted). 16 When we examine the record, it becomes evident that Judge Hornby was merely directing the probation officer to perform ministerial support services and was not giving the officer the power to determine whether Allen had to attend psychiatric counseling. The record contains many references to Allen's mental illness. For example, defense counsel submitted an affidavit from Allen's doctor, Ronald S. Ebert, who found that there was a history suggestive of a mental illness as well as alcohol abuse and opined that Allen was suffering from a major depressive disorder characterized by mood disorder, depression, disorganized and confused thinking, anxiety and irritability. Defense counsel stated Dr. Stephanie Brody diagnosed Allen with affective mental illness. Defense counsel argued that Allen's mental illness contributed to the commission of Allen's crime and asked the court to impose mental health treatment as a condition of probation, if the court agreed to a reduction in his sentence. The extensive evidence of Allen's mental illness indicates that the court was imposing mandatory counseling and delegating the administrative details to the probation officer, actions constituting a permissible delegation. See Peterson, 248 F.3d at 85.