Reported / Citable
Background
Jose Torres-Galaviz appealed from a criminal judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. The appeal concerned two conditions of supervised release.
The government filed an unopposed motion asking the Fifth Circuit to vacate those two conditions and affirm the sentence as modified. Alternatively, it requested a 30-day extension to file its appellee brief if the court denied the motion to vacate.
The Court’s Holding
In a published per curiam order, the Fifth Circuit granted the government’s unopposed motion. It vacated the two supervised-release conditions and affirmed Torres-Galaviz’s sentence as modified.
The court denied the government’s alternative request for additional briefing time as moot. Judge Oldham dissented, reiterating his view that the Fifth Circuit’s practice of summarily vacating supervised-release conditions and entering judgment for the defendant is deeply flawed and is particularly troubling when the plain error results from intervening circuit precedent that did not exist at sentencing.
Key Takeaways
- The Fifth Circuit vacated two supervised-release conditions on the government’s unopposed motion.
- The court otherwise affirmed the sentence as modified.
- Judge Oldham dissented from the court’s use of summary vacatur in this setting.
Why It Matters
The order shows that the Fifth Circuit may resolve a challenge to supervised-release conditions through an unopposed motion, modifying the sentence without proceeding to full appellee briefing.
Judge Oldham’s dissent also records his continuing objection to the court’s summary-vacatur practice, especially when an intervening Fifth Circuit decision supplies the plain error.