United States v. Todd Allen Johnson, A/K/A David Brandon Williams

We explore the limits of the district court’s powers to impose conditions of supervised release.

Background.

Johnson pled guilty to possessing five or more identification documents with the intent to use them unlawfully. See 18 U.S.G. § 1028(a)(3). The court sentenced him to 12 months in prison. In addition to several standard conditions of supervision, the court imposed, for a term of one year, the following special conditions of supervised.release:

CR 25. Johnson challenges these terms on the ground that they were not reasonably related to “the nature and characteristics of his offense” as set forth in U.S.S.G. § BDl^O)),. which guides the court’s discretion in the imposition of supervised release.

We must decide whether the district court correctly considered the factors set forth in section 5D1.3(b) before imposing conditions of supervised release.

Discussion

A. A district court’s decision to impose an available condition of supervised release is typically reviewed for abuse of discretion. United States v. Bolinger, 940 F.2d 478, 480 (9th Cir.1991), However, Johnson’s claim is a challenge to the interpretation and application of the sentencing guidelines which we review…