United States v. Roland Eguchi, Jr.

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
OCT 27 2020
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 20-10057
Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No.
1:08-cr-00714-SOM-1
v.
ROLAND EGUCHI JR., MEMORANDUM*
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Hawaii
Susan Oki Mollway, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted October 21, 2020**
Honolulu, Hawaii
Before: WALLACE, BEA, and BENNETT, Circuit Judges.
Roland Eguchi Jr. pleaded guilty to a drug offense, in violation of 21 U.S.C.
§ 846, and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and eight years supervised
release. Following the second revocation of his supervised release, the district
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
court sentenced Eguchi to 12 months imprisonment. Eguchi appeals from his 12-
month sentence and challenges a supervised release condition as unconstitutionally
vague or overbroad. We have jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a) and 28 U.S.C.
§ 1291. “A due process violation at a revocation proceeding is subject to harmless
error analysis.” United States v. Verduzco, 330 F.3d 1182, 1184 (9th Cir. 2003)
(quoting United States v. Daniel, 209 F.3d 1091, 1094 (9th Cir.), amended by 216
F.3d 1201 (9th Cir. 2000)). We review whether a supervised release condition
violates the Constitution de novo. United States v. Aquino, 794 F.3d 1033, 1036
(9th Cir. 2015). We affirm.
To succeed on a due process claim, a defendant “must establish the
challenged information is (1) false or unreliable, and (2) demonstrably made the
basis for the sentence.” United States v. Vanderwerfhorst, 576 F.3d 929, 935–36
(9th Cir. 2009) (quoting United States v. Ibarra, 737 F.2d 825, 827 (9th Cir.
1984)). “Challenged information is deemed false or unreliable if it lacks ‘some
minimal indicium of reliability beyond mere allegation.’” Id. at 936 (quoting
Ibarra, 737 F.2d at 827). With one exception, Eguchi admitted to the first and
second set of violations of his supervised release terms. Relying on Eguchi’s
admissions, the district court provided two bases for its above-Guidelines sentence:
the nature of Eguchi’s violations and his pattern of violating the terms of
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supervised release. Eguchi does not challenge the veracity or reliability of the
information on which the district court relied. His argument that the district
court’s reference to a hypothetical sentence evidences its speculation and a due
process violation mischaracterizes the record. The district court did not err in
determining Eguchi’s 12-month sentence.
“A supervised release condition ‘violates due process of law if it either
forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common
intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application.’”
United States v. King, 608 F.3d 1122, 1128 (9th Cir. 2010) (quoting United States
v. Soltero, 510 F.3d 858, 866 (9th Cir. 2007)). The supervised release condition
Eguchi challenges as unconstitutionally overbroad or vague prohibits the use of
synthetic cannabinoids and lists as illustrative examples “synthetic marijuana,”
“K2,” and “Spice.” This condition is effectively identical to the condition this
court upheld in United States v. Sims, 849 F.3d 1259 (9th Cir. 2017). Here, the
condition “provide[s] people of ordinary intelligence with fair notice of what is
prohibited.” Id. at 1260.
AFFIRMED.
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