United States v. Mason ( 2023 )

Case: 23-60379 Document: 00516919002 Page: 1 Date Filed: 10/03/2023
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
____________ FILED
October 3, 2023
No. 23-60379
Lyle W. Cayce
Summary Calendar Clerk
____________
United States of America,
Plaintiff—Appellee,
versus
Nateagus Damon Mason,
Defendant—Appellant.
______________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Mississippi
USDC No. 3:16-CR-64-1
______________________________
Before Jolly, Higginson, and Duncan, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam:*
The district court determined that Nateagus Damon Mason violated
the conditions of his supervised release by committing another federal, state
or local crime and by possessing illegal controlled substances, ordered that
his release be revoked, and sentenced him to 18 months of imprisonment,
followed by an 18-month term of supervised release. On appeal, Mason
_____________________
*
This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
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No. 23-60379
argues that the revocation was error because the evidence was insufficient to
show that he committed the charged violations. He complains that there was
no direct evidence, such as dashboard camera or body camera footage,
showing that he threw baggies of drugs out of the window of the SUV he was
driving and complains that the arresting officer, Agent Decker, who testified
at the revocation hearing, never identified him by his distinctive tattoos.
According to Mason, Agent Decker’s testimony showed only that a black
male threw the drugs and that, because both he and his passenger were black,
it is possible that the passenger threw the drugs.
We review a district court’s decision to revoke supervised release for
an abuse of discretion. United States v. Spraglin, 418 F.3d 479, 480 (5th Cir.
2005). The district court could revoke Mason’s supervised release if it found
by a preponderance of the evidence that he violated a condition of his
supervised release. See 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3); United States v. Hinson,
429 F.3d 114, 118-19 (5th Cir. 2005); see also Spraglin, 418 F.3d at 481. The
evidence, and all reasonable inferences drawn from it, when viewed in the
light most favorable to the Government, supports that a reasonable trier of
fact could conclude that Mason threw baggies containing methamphetamine
and MDMB out of the window of the SUV he was driving as he was being
stopped for a traffic violation. See United States v. Alaniz-Alaniz, 38 F.3d 788,
792 (5th Cir. 1994). Agent Decker’s testimony established that he was very
close to the SUV at the time the drugs were thrown, that he saw the driver,
later identified as Mason, throw the drugs with his left arm out of the driver’s
side window, and that he observed that the passenger never moved from the
passenger’s side of the vehicle. Mason’s appellate arguments are, in essence,
a challenge to the credibility of Agent Decker’s testimony, but this court will
not revisit the district court’s credibility determination. See id. at 791.
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Case: 23-60379 Document: 00516919002 Page: 3 Date Filed: 10/03/2023
No. 23-60379
The district court did not abuse its discretion in revoking Mason’s
supervised release. See Spraglin, 418 F.3d at 480. Accordingly, its judgment
is AFFIRMED.
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