Court Opinion

ID: 9892190
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-20 21:00:36.390089+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:17:46.852504
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 23-4199      Doc: 29         Filed: 10/19/2023    Pg: 1 of 3

                                            UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 23-4199

        UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                            Plaintiff - Appellee,

                     v.

        KAHSIM RAY,

                            Defendant - Appellant.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore.
        Stephanie A. Gallagher, District Judge. (1:19-cr-00477-SAG-1)

        Submitted: October 13, 2023                                       Decided: October 19, 2023

        Before AGEE, THACKER, and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges.

        Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        ON BRIEF: Gregory Dolin, UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE SCHOOL OF LAW,
        Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. Erek L. Barron, United States Attorney, Patricia
        McLane, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES
        ATTORNEY, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
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        PER CURIAM:

               Kahsim Ray pled guilty, pursuant to a Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(1)(C) plea agreement,

        to aiding and abetting Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 1951(a). On

        appeal, Ray argues that the district court reversibly erred in announcing special conditions

        of supervised release that differ from those listed in the written judgment. We affirm.

               We review de novo whether the sentence imposed in the written judgment matches

        the district court’s oral pronouncement of the sentence. United States v. Rogers, 961 F.3d

        291, 295-96 (4th Cir. 2020). In Rogers, we vacated the defendant’s sentence and remanded

        to the district court based on the court’s failure to orally announce the standard, but

        discretionary, conditions of supervision in the written judgment. Id. at 296-301. We

        explained that “the requirement that a district court expressly adopt a written list of

        proposed conditions is not a meaningless formality: It is a critical part of the defendant’s

        right to be present at sentencing.” Id. at 300 (internal quotation marks omitted).

               Here, the written descriptions of the special conditions in the judgment match the

        recommended conditions contained in the presentence report (PSR). However, the district

        court only orally summarized these conditions at the sentencing hearing. We agree with

        the Government that the added language did not impose new conditions on Ray but “may

        be construed fairly as a clarification of an otherwise vague oral pronouncement.” Rogers,

        961 F.3d at 299 (internal quotation marks omitted). The district court referred to the PSR

        when it asked counsel if he had reviewed the mandatory and standard conditions of

        supervised release with Ray, and then it summarized the additional conditions it was

        imposing. The inclusion of the added language in the written judgment clarifies any

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        ambiguity between the court’s oral pronouncement and the conditions recommended in the

        PSR. Thus, there was no Rogers error.

              Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s judgment. We dispense with oral

        argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials

        before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                                                     AFFIRMED

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