UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Terry Erwin EYLER, Defendant-Appellant

Eyler was convicted by a jury of possession of unregistered machine guns and of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He fully admitted his guilt on those charges. He appeals only from his sentence of 66 months imprisonment and from the conditioning of his supervised release upon repayment of the costs of his defense, in particular the attorneys fees paid to his court-appointed counsel under the Criminal Justice Act (CJA). We conclude that Eyler is entitled to a three-point rather than a two-point reduction for acceptance of responsibility, and that it was improper to condition his supervised release upon his repayment of attorneys fees. Accordingly, we remand for resentencing in accordance with this opinion.

I. BACKGROUND

Terry Eyler and Harriett Crelling began living together in 1983. Although they have never married, they lived together in a family-type relationship along with Crelling’s minor daughter Serena. In 1990, Crelling opened a craft shop in Hermiston, Oregon. At some point, she began on occasion to sell small amounts of methamphetamine out of her shop. Apparently, Eyler was unaware of these drug transactions. In 1992, government agents began investigating…