United States v. Meyers

F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
PUBLISH
JAN 4 2000
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
TENTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,
No. 98-8086
v.

DAVID MEYERS,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Wyoming
(D.C. No. 95-CR-58-1)

Michael Reese, Wiederspahn, Liepas & Reese, P.C., Cheyenne, Wyoming, for
Defendant-Appellant.

David A. Kubichek, Assistant United States Attorney, Casper, Wyoming (David
D. Freudenthal, United States Attorney, Casper, Wyoming, on the brief), for
Plaintiff/Appellee.

Before LUCERO, HOLLOWAY, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

MURPHY, Circuit Judge.
I. INTRODUCTION

David Meyers appeals the revocation of his supervised release and resulting

imprisonment on numerous grounds. The government contends that Meyers’

completion of his term of imprisonment resulting from the revocation order

renders this appeal moot. This court concludes that Meyers’ appeal is indeed

moot, thus depriving us of jurisdiction to address the merits of his claims.

II. BACKGROUND

On October 5, 1995, in the district court for the District of Wyoming,

Meyers was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and

distribution of marijuana, as well as aiding and abetting possession with intent to

distribute marijuana. He received a sentence of thirty-three months imprisonment

followed by three years of supervised release. This court subsequently affirmed

his conviction and sentence. See United States v. Meyers, 95 F.3d 1475, 1489

(10th Cir. 1996). Meyers was released from prison on July 28, 1997 under

specific terms of supervised release, which included his submission to urinalysis

for narcotics.

Three months after Meyers’ release from prison, a counselor at Border Area

Mental Health Service, Inc. of New Mexico (BAMH) collected from Meyers a

urine sample, which tested positive for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

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Meyers later informed Probation Officer James Barela that he would no longer

cooperate with BAMH. As a result of these occurrences, on July 29, 1998,

Probation Officer John Olive petitioned the district court for the District of

Wyoming for revocation of Meyers’ supervised release. The petition alleged

violations of the following three conditions of Meyers’ supervised release: (1)

refraining from the purchase, possession, use, distribution or administration of

narcotics, controlled substances, or related paraphernalia except as prescribed by

a physician; (2) refraining from the use or possession of controlled substances

unless prescribed by a medical practitioner licensed in the United States; and (3)

participating in drug and alcohol treatment as directed by the U.S. Probation

Office.

Identity and detention hearings were then held in the district court for the

District of New Mexico in early August of 1998. The district court detained

Meyers for commitment to the District of Wyoming. After Meyers was

transported to Wyoming, on September 25, 1998 the district court for the District

of Wyoming held a joint preliminary and revocation hearing, at which Meyers

represented himself, though appointed counsel was present. The district court

found the petition true, revoked Meyers’ release, and sentenced him to nine

months imprisonment.

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 Meyers then appealed the district court’s revocation order, asserting the

following five grounds for reversal: 1 (1) the district court erred by allowing

Meyers to represent himself at the revocation hearing without determining

whether his waiver of counsel was knowing and intelligent; (2) the district court

erred by failing to provide a prompt preliminary hearing; (3) the district court

erred by denying Meyers an opportunity to examine two adverse witnesses at the

revocation hearing; (4) there was insufficient evidence presented at the revocation

hearing to support the district court’s finding that Meyers violated terms of his

release; and (5) the government waived its right to revoke Meyers’ release

because it unreasonably delayed seeking revocation after the alleged violation. In

May of 1999, however, while this appeal was pending, Meyers completed the term

of imprisonment imposed as a result of the revocation. He is now out of prison,

under no further terms of probation or supervised release.

III. DISCUSSION

Before a court addresses the merits of an appeal, it must first determine

whether in fact it has jurisdiction over that appeal. Article III of the United

1
In addition to these errors alleged in Meyers’ counsel’s brief, Meyers
himself raised several more arguments in a pro se brief which he also filed. This
court construed that brief as a motion for permission to file a supplemental brief.
In light of our conclusion that this appeal is moot, we deny Meyers’ motion to file
a supplemental brief.

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States Constitution only extends federal judicial power to cases or controversies.

U.S. Const. Art. III, § 2, cl. 1. “This case-or-controversy requirement subsists

through all stages of federal judicial proceedings, trial and appellate.” Lewis v.

Continental Bank Corp., 494 U.S. 472, 477 (1990). An appellant seeking relief

“must have suffered, or be threatened with, an actual injury traceable to the

[appellee] and likely to be redressed by a favorable judicial decision [by the

appeals court].” Id. Thus, when the injury for which an appellant seeks judicial

relief disappears or is resolved extrajudicially prior to the appellate court’s

decision, the appellant can no longer satisfy the Article III case or controversy

jurisdictional requirement and the appeal is moot. See Burke v. Barnes, 479 U.S.

361, 363 (1987).

When an incarcerated criminal defendant appeals his conviction, the

ongoing incarceration constitutes an injury from which the defendant seeks relief

in satisfaction of Article III. See Spencer v. Kemna, 118 S. Ct. 978, 983 (1998).

If, however, that same defendant completes his sentence prior to the appellate

court decision, the court must determine whether sufficient collateral

consequences flow from the underlying judgment and the completed sentence to

save the appeal from mootness. See id. In Spencer, the Supreme Court

acknowledged, though with some level of discomfort, its prior jurisprudence

establishing a presumption of sufficient collateral consequences when a defendant

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who has already served his sentence appeals the propriety of his initial conviction.

See id. at 983-85. Among other consequences resulting from a criminal

conviction, the Court has recognized a host of civil disabilities imposed by law

upon convicts. See, e.g., Carafas v. LaVallee, 391 U.S. 234, 237-38 (1968)

(holding that the defendant’s inability to engage in certain businesses, serve in

particular offices, vote, and serve as a juror due to his conviction defeated the

mootness challenge to his appeal). The reality of these substantial disabilities

eventually led the Court to simply presume that sufficient collateral consequences

exist in cases where released defendants appeal their direct convictions. See

Sibron v. New York, 392 U.S. 40, 55 (1968).

In Spencer, however, the Court declined to extend this presumption of

collateral consequences to challenges of parole termination. See Spencer, 118 S.

Ct. at 986. Building upon its decision in Lane v. Williams, 455 U.S. 624 (1982),

the Court reasoned that those collateral consequences from which the presumption

derived in initial conviction appeals do not similarly flow from a parole

revocation order. See Spencer, 118 S. Ct. at 985-86. Thus, the Court held that

when a defendant challenges a parole revocation but has completed the sentence

imposed upon revocation, the defendant bears the burden of demonstrating the

existence of actual collateral consequences resulting from the revocation. See id.

at 986.

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 The Spencer court went on to determine that the consequences which the

defendant attributed to his parole revocation were insufficient to satisfy Article

III. See id. at 986-87. One such asserted consequence was the possibility that the

revocation order could trigger an increase in the defendant’s sentence in some

future sentencing proceeding. See id. at 986. In rejecting this possible

consequence as too speculative to defeat the government’s mootness challenge,

the Court stated: “A similar claim was likewise considered and rejected in Lane,

because it was contingent upon respondents’ violating the law, being caught and

convicted. ‘Respondents themselves are able – and indeed required by law – to

prevent such a possibility from occurring.’” Id. at 987 (quoting Lane, 455 U.S. at

633 n.13).

Less than a year after Spencer, this court decided United States v.

Dominguez-Carmona, 166 F.3d 1052 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 120 S. Ct. 87

(1999) and United States v. Soto-Holguin, 163 F.3d 1217 (10th Cir. 1999). In

both cases, the government appealed the length of the sentence imposed upon the

defendants’ initial convictions. See Dominguez-Carmona, 166 F.3d at 1055;

Soto-Holguin, 163 F.3d at 1219. The defendants in both cases had completed

their sentences and been deported to Mexico, and thus argued that the

government’s appeals were moot. See Dominguez-Carmona, 166 F.3d at 1055;

Soto-Holguin, 163 F.3d at 1219. This court, however, concluded that the

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completion of the defendants’ sentences did not render the government’s appeals

moot because the length of the sentence imposed could impact the defendants’

criminal history score under the United States Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.”

or “the guidelines”) in future federal sentencing proceedings, a collateral

consequence sufficient to defeat mootness. See Dominguez-Carmona, 166 F.3d at

1056; Soto-Holguin, 163 F.3d at 1220; see also United States v. Reider, 103 F.3d

99, 101 (10th Cir. 1996) (a pre-Spencer opinion holding that a defendant’s

challenge to a revocation of his supervised release did not become moot upon his

release from prison because, inter alia, the revocation will affect any other future

sentencing); United States v. Chavez-Palacios, 30 F.3d 1290, 1293 (10th Cir.

1994) (a pre-Spencer case holding that a defendant’s challenge to the length of

his incarceration was not moot despite his release because, inter alia, the length

of imprisonment would impact his criminal history score in future sentencing

proceedings). But see Dominguez-Carmona, 166 F.3d at 1059 (Lucero, J.,

concurring) (noting that under Spencer “the collateral consequence of additional

criminal history points . . . is too speculative to overcome [mootness].”)

The only collateral consequence which Meyers advances to counter the

government’s mootness claim is the possibility that the sentence he received for

the supervised release violation could increase his criminal history score in future

sentencing proceedings. Under the guidelines, two points are added to a

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defendant’s criminal history calculation if the defendant committed the federal

crime at issue within two years of release from imprisonment on a sentence of at

least sixty days. See U.S.S.G. § 4A1.1(e). In addition, revocation of supervised

release may affect the date of release for purposes of section 4A1.1.(e). See id. §

4A1.2(k)(2)(A). Therefore, due to the revocation and resulting sentence imposed

upon Meyers, his criminal history score will increase by two points should he

commit a federal crime within two years of May of 1999 when he completed his

revocation sentence; absent the revocation, however, his criminal history

calculation would increase by two points only if he commits a federal crime

within two years of July 29, 1997, the date of his release from the initial sentence.

In short, the revocation of Meyers’ supervised release status and resulting

sentence lengthened the amount of time in which he is subject to a potential

additional penalty imposed by the guidelines.

Although Spencer squarely rejected as too speculative the precise argument

for collateral consequences now made by Meyers, the two relevant cases from this

court which postdated Spencer – Dominguez-Carmona and Soto-Holguin – are

premised on the very reasoning of Meyers’ argument. See Spencer, 118 S. Ct. at

986-87; Dominguez-Carmona, 166 F.3d at 1056; Soto-Holguin, 163 F.3d at 1220.

Under the doctrine of stare decisis, this panel cannot overturn the decision of

another panel of this court. See United States v. Nichols, 169 F.3d 1255, 1261

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(10th Cir. 1999). “We are bound by the precedent of prior panels absent en banc

reconsideration or a superseding contrary decision by the Supreme Court.” In re

Smith , 10 F.3d 723, 724 (10th Cir. 1993). The precedent of prior panels which

this court must follow includes not only the very narrow holdings of those prior

cases, but also the reasoning underlying those holdings, particularly when such

reasoning articulates a point of law. See Roque-Rodriguez v. Lema Moya , 926

F.2d 103, 108 (1st Cir. 1991) (“[T]he reasoning of [a prior First Circuit case]

compels a similar outcome in the case at bar. And, we are not at liberty to reject

that reasoning.”); Equal Employment Opportunity Comm’n v. Atlanta Gas Light

Co. , 751 F.2d 1188, 1191 (11th Cir. 1985) (“For us to adhere to the [Supreme]

Court’s holding but not its reasoning would violate the rules of precedent which

control our decision making processes.”); Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Jennings ,

816 F.2d 1488, 1492 (10th Cir. 1987) (defining stare decisis as “either . . . a

decision on a legal point or . . . precedent in which a court has decided identical

factual issues”). This court’s determination in Dominguez-Carmona and Soto-

Holguin that the appeals were not moot because the challenged sentences could

affect future sentencing proceedings for those defendants thus constitutes a point

of law which stare decisis dictates this panel must follow.

The government, however, suggests a means by which this panel can

distinguish Dominguez-Carmona and Soto-Holguin from the instant case and thus

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still conclude, consistent with those cases, that Meyers’ appeal is moot.

Specifically, the government asserts that the presumption of collateral

consequences established by the Supreme Court attaches to appeals of sentences

imposed following an initial conviction, the posture of both Dominguez-Carmona

and Soto-Holguin , but not to challenges of a supervised release revocation and

resulting sentence, as in the instant appeal. Thus, the government argues the

applicability of this presumption to Dominguez-Carmona and Soto-Holguin but

not to Meyers’ appeal moves this case out from under the control of those two

cases and squarely within the precedent of Spencer .

Although Dominguez-Carmona and Soto-Holguin do differ factually and

procedurally from Meyers’ appeal, the differences do not present a principled

means of distinction. First, whether the presumption of collateral consequences

does in fact still apply when a party challenges the sentence imposed following

the initial conviction, but not the underlying conviction itself, remains an open

question in light of Spencer . See United States v. Mercurris , 192 F.3d 290, 293-

94 (2d Cir. 1999) (declining to adopt the presumption in a defendant’s challenge

to the length of his sentence); United States v. Palomba , 182 F.3d 1121, 1123 n.3

(9th Cir. 1999) (same). But see Pollard v. United States , 352 U.S. 354, 358

(1957) (“The possibility of consequences collateral to the imposition of sentence

is sufficiently substantial to justify our dealing with the merits” of a defendant’s

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challenge to the validity of his sentence). Indeed, both Dominguez-Carmona and

Soto-Holguin involved challenges not to the underlying convictions but only to

the sentences thereafter imposed. Cf. infra note 3 (noting that the collateral

consequences doctrine is not even implicated when the government challenges the

length of the sentence). Moreover, even if the presumption were applicable in the

context of those two cases, this court did not in fact utilize the presumption to

reach its decision in either case. Instead, the court unequivocally and broadly

stated a point of law applicable generally to the question of mootness: “Because

the length of the sentence imposed . . . will affect the computation of criminal

history points for any future federal sentences which Defendants may receive,

collateral consequences exist and the appeals are not moot.” Dominguez-

Carmona , 166 F.3d at 1056; see also Soto-Holguin , 163 F.3d at 1220. As a

consequence, there exists no principled means to avoid application of the broad

point of law announced in Dominguez-Carmona and Soto-Holguin .

One panel, however, may overrule a point of law established by a prior

panel after obtaining authorization from all active judges on the court. See, e.g.,

Murphy v. Klein Tools, Inc. , 935 F.2d 1127, 1128 n.2 (10th Cir. 1991). Because

this court now deems the above-mentioned point of law articulated in Dominguez-

Carmona and Soto-Holguin to be directly at odds with the Supreme Court’s

decisions in both Spencer and Lane , which would otherwise control the instant

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case, 2 we overrule that point of law. 3
Thus, this court holds that when a

2
The only distinction between Spencer and the instant case is that Spencer
involved a challenge to a revocation of parole, whereas Meyers appeals the
revocation of supervised release. This court can discern no relevant differences
between parole and supervised release which would militate against the
applicability of Spencer. See United States v. Probber, 170 F.3d 345, 347-49 (2d
Cir. 1999) (applying Spencer in a challenge to the revocation of supervised
release); United States v. Engelhorn, 122 F.3d 508, 513 (8th Cir. 1997) (noting
that Congress abolished the federal parole system and replaced it with a regime of
supervised release); United States v. Pierce, 75 F.3d 173, 177 (4th Cir. 1996)
(discussing similarities between federal supervised release and North Carolina’s
parole system).
3
This opinion has been circulated to all active members of this court, and
it is their unanimous decision to overturn the following point of law articulated in
Dominguez-Carmona and Soto-Holguin: the potential impact of challenged
sentences on future sentencing proceedings constitutes a sufficient collateral
consequence to render a controversy live even though the defendant involved has
completed the sentence imposed. Despite overruling this point of law, this panel
nonetheless does not question the ultimate outcome reached in both Dominguez-
Carmona and Soto-Holguin on the issue of whether the defendants’ completion of
their sentences mooted the government’s appeals. In other words, those two
opinions properly concluded that the defendants’ completion of their sentences
did not render moot the government’s challenge to the length of the imposed
sentences. When the government is the party appealing the length of an imposed
sentence as improperly short, the defendant’s completion of that sentence does not
moot the appeal because the government still alleges a remediable injury: the trial
court’s failure to impose the appropriate sentence pursuant to statute or the
sentencing guidelines. In such an appeal, the government’s asserted need for a
longer sentence than that imposed can be remedied only by appeal. See 18 U.S.C.
§ 3742(b); see also United States v. DiFrancesco, 449 U.S. 117, 136 (1980)
(stating that a criminal defendant “is charged with knowledge of the statute
[granting the prosecution the right to appeal a sentence] . . . and [thus] has no
expectation of finality in his sentence until the [government’s] appeal is
concluded or the time to appeal has expired.”). Cf. Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434
U.S. 106, 109 n.3 (1977) (concluding that the state’s inability to impose burdens
on the defendant due to the reversal of his conviction in state court sufficed to
render live the state’s appeal to the Supreme Court, even though by that point the
defendant had served his entire sentence). Indeed, an appeal in this context does

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defendant appeals the revocation of his supervised release and resulting

imprisonment and has completed that term of imprisonment, the potential impact

of the revocation order and sentence on possible later sentencing proceedings

does not constitute a sufficient collateral consequence to defeat mootness.

Indeed, such a holding brings this circuit in line not only with Supreme

Court precedent but with every other circuit but one that has considered the issue

since Spencer . 4 See United States v. Probber , 170 F.3d 345, 347-49 (2d Cir.

1999) (holding that in an appeal of a revocation of supervised release in which the

defendant had completed his term of imprisonment, the possible effect of the

findings underlying the revocation order on future sentencing was too speculative

to save the appeal from mootness); Diaz v. Duckworth , 143 F.3d 345, 346-47 (7th

Cir. 1998) (holding that the release from imprisonment and the deportation of a

not even implicate the collateral consequences doctrine, because the direct
consequences of an allegedly too brief sentence persist.
The defendants in Dominguez-Carmona and Soto-Holguin raised the further
question of whether their deportation mooted the government’s appeal. See
Dominguez-Carmona, 166 F.3d at 1056; Soto-Holguin, 163 F.3d at 1219.
Because the instant case presents no such deportation issue, this panel need not
address the treatment of that issue in Dominguez-Carmona and Soto-Holguin.
4
In an unpublished order and judgment issued by a panel of this court after
Spencer, Dominguez-Carmona, and Soto-Holguin, that panel followed the rule of
law established in Spencer. See Strachan v. Army Clemency & Parole Bd., No.
99-3024, 1999 WL 668835, at *1 (10th Cir., Aug. 27, 1999) (unpublished
disposition) (concluding that habeas petitioner’s challenge to the sentence
imposed upon parole revocation became moot when he was released from prison
and that the possible affect of the length of his sentence on later sentencing did
not save the appeal from mootness).

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habeas petitioner challenging a prison disciplinary proceeding rendered his appeal

moot, despite the possibility that the disciplinary action could affect future

sentencing); Palomba , 182 F.3d at 1123 (9th Cir. 1999) (concluding that in a

defendant’s challenge of the sentence he received, but not the conviction itself,

his release from prison rendered the appeal moot despite the potential impact of

the sentence imposed on future sentencing); see also United States v. Clark , 193

F.3d 845, 847-48 (5th Cir. 1999) (holding moot a challenge to extended

supervised release when the supervised release period had ended because the

potential effect of the appeal on some later lawsuit did not suffice as a collateral

consequence under Spencer ); Beachem v. Schriro , 141 F.3d 1292, 1294 (8th Cir.

1998) (concluding that in a habeas challenge to the imposition of parole, when the

state removed its detainer over the petitioner, the possible revocation of parole

did not suffice to defeat the state’s mootness claim). But see United States v.

Cottman , 142 F.3d 160, 164-65 (3d Cir. 1998) (an opinion issued less than two

months after Spencer which fails to reference Spencer , holding a defendant’s

challenge to a sentence was not moot though he had completed that sentence in

part because it could impact future sentencing). Both the Second and Ninth

Circuits have specifically indicated that Spencer overruled their prior case law

holding that a challenge to a completed sentence remains live if there exists any

possibility that the appeal could impact future sentencing. See Mercurris , 192

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F.3d at 294 (concluding that cases such as United States v. Kassar , 47 F.3d 562,

565 (2d Cir. 1995) “are no longer controlling” in light of Spencer ); Palomba , 182

F.3d at 1123 (stating that due to Spencer , “[p]rior Ninth Circuit cases reviewing

completed sentences because of collateral consequences in future sentencing . . .

are thus no longer good law.” (citation omitted)) Because Meyers has asserted no

other collateral consequences to defeat the government’s mootness challenge and

because he bears the burden of establishing such consequences, this court

concludes that his appeal is moot.

IV. CONCLUSION

Meyers has completed the term of imprisonment resulting from the

revocation of his supervised release status and has failed to demonstrate

sufficient collateral consequences flowing from the revocation and resulting

sentence to defeat the government’s mootness claim. This court therefore lacks

jurisdiction to entertain the merits of his appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED .

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