9th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds local court decision
US Attorney for the NMI District Frederick A. Black yesterday announced that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the decision of Federal Judge Alex R. Munson to revoke the supervised release of Julie Sablan.
Ms. Sablan was originally sentenced to six months imprisonment following a 1998 conviction for “Distribution of Methamphetamine” in violation of Title 21 United States Code 841 (a)(1).
Following her release from federal custody, Ms. Sablan was placed under court-imposed supervised release conditions. Her release was revoked by Chief Judge Alex R. Munson following a determination that she failed to meet all the conditions of release, chiefly testing positive for methamphetamine.
Her attorney appealed the revocation to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, contending that Ms. Sablan’s rights were violated by not being allowed to cross examine the person who conducted the drug tests.
In upholding the decision of the trial court to revoke, the appellate court ruled in part that “revocation of release is not part of a criminal prosecution, and thus defendants’ rights at a revocation hearing are more limited.”
The appellate court quoted the trial court as it “found incredible Ms. Sablan’s contention that the results of those tests were false positives caused by her use of non-prescription pain relievers. In addition, Ms. Sablan had admitted under oath in an earlier revocation hearing that she continued to use methamphetamine while under supervision.”
This case was argued through the use of Video Teleconferencing equipment provided by the US District Court on Saipan by David T. Wood, AUSA for the government and Joseph E. Horey for the appellant.
It is the first case ever presented to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals from Saipan using this technology.
“Use of this technology could save lawyers and their clients from paying huge expenses for travel and related expenses in the future,” according to Bill Bezzant, Systems Administrator for the US District Court.
