United States v. Gerald Williams

MEMORANDUM

Defendant-Appellant Gerald Mark Williams (“Williams”) appeals the district court’s revocation of his supervised release on the ground of lack of jurisdiction. We reverse and remand.

In the proceedings below, both the government and the district court appear to have acted based on the erroneous assumption that a December 22, 2003, bench warrant stayed Williams’s term of supervised release pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3583 (i). Section 3583(i) does not toll a defendant’s term of supervised release; rather, it extends the district court’s jurisdiction “beyond the expiration of the term of supervised release for any period reasonably necessary for the adjudication of matters arising before its expiration if, before its expiration, a warrant or summons has been issued on the basis of an allegation of such a violation.” Absent tolling, § 3583(f) cannot provide a basis for the district court’s exercise of jurisdiction to revoke supervised release based on Williams’s January 31, 2011, conviction.

Absent tolling, Williams’s supervised release expired on June 17, 2005, five and one-half years prior to the January 31, 2011, conviction that served as the basis of the district court’s…