Opinion ID: 2981477
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jeffries’s conviction and first sentence

Text: Jeffries is a former United States Army officer. He suffers from paranoia, hypomania, hallucinations, depression, bipolar disorder, delusions, and post-traumatic stress disorder from his time deployed in Iraq. In June 2010, Jeffries posted a video to YouTube. In the video, Jeffries performed an original song titled “Daughter’s Love,” in which he threatened to kill the judge No. 12-5453 United States v. Jeffries presiding over a custody case involving his daughter if the judge did not “do the right thing” at an upcoming hearing. United States v. Jeffries, 692 F.3d 473, 475 (6th Cir. 2012). He ultimately was indicted and convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) for communicating threats in interstate commerce. This court upheld Jeffries’s conviction on appeal. Id. at 483. In June 2011, the district court sentenced Jeffries to 18 months of incarceration and three years of supervised release. As a condition of supervised release, Jeffries was prohibited from possessing any controlled substance. He was also required to answer truthfully all inquiries by his probation officer and to follow the officer’s instructions. Finally, the court required Jeffries to obtain mental-health treatment and take all medications prescribed pursuant to the treatment program as directed. B. Jeffries’s violations of the terms of supervised release and second sentence Jeffries was released from prison on November 3, 2011 and began serving his term of supervised release. His probation officer, Kathryn Callaway, attempted to help him find a mentalhealth treatment program, but Jeffries resisted. Callaway became concerned about Jeffries in the first month of his release when she saw a posting on his Facebook page stating that he had seen an Iraqi flag at a Taco Bell, which upset him and made him feel “like he wanted to hurt somebody.” As a result, she directed Jeffries to refrain from using social media. But Jeffries soon began to use social media again. Beginning in February 2012, Jeffries posted updates to his Facebook page, including links to comments that he had posted on a legal blog that discussed his case. He also posted a new video to YouTube. -2- No. 12-5453 United States v. Jeffries Jeffries finally began a mental-health treatment program in February 2012. He was prescribed Celexa, an antidepressant, and Prazosin, a blood-pressure medication. Jeffries discontinued taking his medication after a couple of days, however, and did not contact his doctors to inform them that he had done so. On March 3, 2012, Jeffries went out drinking with friends and, during the course of the evening, he used cocaine and took a benzodiazepine pill. A couple of days later, Jeffries started a Twitter account and posted several tweets wondering whether Jesus had committed suicide. Jeffries indicated that he wanted to die and was going to kill himself. He also tweeted about his new YouTube video and linked to legal blogs discussing his case. The Department of Homeland Security notified the U.S. Marshals Service of these postings, and the U.S. Marshals in turn notified Callaway. When confronted by Callaway, Jeffries denied having a Twitter account and denied that he was planning to hurt himself. But he admitted that he was not taking his medications, and his urine sample tested positive for cocaine and benzodiazepine. Callaway, concerned that Jeffries was in crisis, arranged for him to be examined by his mental-health treatment providers, but they determined that he was not a danger to himself or others. On March 16, 2012, however, Callaway filed a petition for revocation of Jeffries’s supervised release based on his testing positive for controlled substances and failure to comply with his medical-treatment regimen. The district court held a revocation hearing in April 2012 and heard testimony from Callaway and Jonathan Harwell, Jeffries’s trial counsel. Callaway testified that Jeffries had a history of alcohol abuse. Her testimony established that she had directed Jeffries to refrain from using social -3- No. 12-5453 United States v. Jeffries media in light of his underlying conviction, and that Jeffries understood this instruction. She also confirmed that Jeffries denied having posted anything to Twitter. Finally, Callaway testified that Jeffries initially did not see a mental-health treatment provider, and that he discontinued taking his prescribed medications after he finally saw a doctor. She stated that Jeffries “shows a pattern of failing to take the recommendations of his mental health treatment providers, and this has been going on for years.” Callaway concluded that the combination of drug use, violence and threats, and refusing mental-health treatment created a “perfect storm” that “together[] could produce some serious violence to himself or to the community.” Harwell testified that he was concerned when Callaway contacted him about Jeffries’s YouTube video. He did not recall whether Jeffries was prohibited from using social media, but he confirmed that Jeffries has a history of threatening other people and agreed that Jeffries’s use of illegal substances was problematic. After hearing the above testimony, the court found that Jeffries had violated the conditions of his supervised release, specifically the prohibition on illegal drug use, the requirement to follow a mental-health treatment regimen, and the requirement to follow Callaway’s instruction not to use social media. Consequently, the court revoked Jeffries’s term of supervised release. It stated that the offense level in the present case was Grade C, and that Jeffries had a criminal-history category I. The court then turned to Jeffries’s request for a downward variance, although the court inconsistently referred to the request as for either “a variance” or “a departure and/or variance.” It reviewed the factors enumerated in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) and found, among other things, that Jeffries’s sentencing memorandum “minimize[d] the severity of his violations of supervised release,” -4- No. 12-5453 United States v. Jeffries that Jeffries’s history of violence, threats, and mental-health issues were “characteristic of a dangerous offender,” and that Jeffries’s original term of imprisonment was insufficient to adequately deter him from criminal activities. Based on these findings, the court denied Jeffries’s “motion for a downward departure and/or variance.” The district court ultimately sentenced Jeffries to 12 months of imprisonment, followed by 24 months of supervised release. It explained its reasons for the sentence, first acknowledging the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines range of three to nine months, then erroneously stating that the statutory maximum sentence was “one year imprisonment.” The court then reviewed biographical information about Jeffries. It concluded that the 12-month sentence was sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes of § 3553(a). The court stated that “the sentence imposed reflects the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history and characteristics of the Defendant, promotes respect for the law, provides just punishment for the offense, affords adequate deterrence to criminal conduct and provides—and protects the public from further crimes perpetrated by the Defendant.” Correcting itself, the court then recited the proper two-year statutory maximum sentence.