Court Opinion

ID: 990759
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-03 23:26:06.860143+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:25:42.421690
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.                                                                    No. 96-4408

DWIGHT MASON,
Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of West Virginia, at Wheeling.
Frederick P. Stamp, Jr., Chief District Judge.
(CR-90-123)

Submitted: October 17, 1996

Decided: October 29, 1996

Before MURNAGHAN and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and
BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

Mark E. Kinley, STEPTOE & JOHNSON, Wheeling, West Virginia,
for Appellant. William D. Wilmoth, United States Attorney, Sam G.
Nazzaro, Assistant United States Attorney, Wheeling, West Virginia,
for Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Dwight Mason appeals the district court's order revoking his term
of supervised release and imposing a sentence of eight months impris-
onment. He contends that the court clearly erred in finding that he
used cocaine based on a positive drug test. On a finding that the
defendant violated the conditions of his supervised release by unlaw-
fully possessing drugs, revocation of supervised release and imposi-
tion of a prison term is mandatory. 18 U.S.C.A.§ 3583(d) (West
Supp. 1996). Finding no error, we affirm.

Mason admitted that he violated supervised release by failing to
submit to urinalysis on several occasions, violating the law,1 and leav-
ing the district of supervision without permission. He denied using
cocaine despite testing positive for cocaine use on December 1, 1995,
and offered various explanations for failing to attend drug counseling
sessions regularly. The district court found that Mason had used drugs
without authorization, a grade B violation. As a result, his revocation
range (with criminal history category III) was 8-14 months. USSG
§ 7B1.4, p.s.2 The district court imposed the minimum term of impris-
onment.

On appeal, Mason argues that the government failed to prove that
the initial positive drug test was subsequently confirmed by an alter-
nate testing procedure as required under § 3583(d) when a defendant
who is subject to possible imprisonment denies the accuracy of the
test. At the sentencing hearing, the probation officer was unable to
_________________________________________________________________
1 Mason was cited in Ohio for hit and skip, leaving the scene of an acci-
dent, and following too close. He informed the court that he pled guilty
to following too close and the other charges were dismissed.
2 United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual (Nov.
1995).

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state that such confirmation had taken place. However, the court
found that the appropriate testing regimen was followed. The report
from PharmChem Laboratories which was submitted as a government
exhibit discloses that the initial EMIT test was followed by a gas
chromatography confirmation test, exactly the procedure called for in
the statute.

We therefore affirm the sentence. We dispense with oral argument
because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the
materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional
process.

AFFIRMED

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