United States v. William Leslie New ( 2023 )


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  • USCA11 Case: 22-10562    Document: 37-1     Date Filed: 03/21/2023   Page: 1 of 4
    [DO NOT PUBLISH]
    In the
    United States Court of Appeals
    For the Eleventh Circuit
    ____________________
    No. 22-10562
    Non-Argument Calendar
    ____________________
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
    Plaintiff-Appellee,
    versus
    WILLIAM LESLIE NEW,
    Defendant-Appellant.
    ____________________
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Southern District of Alabama
    D.C. Docket No. 1:15-cr-00116-TFM-B-1
    ____________________
    USCA11 Case: 22-10562     Document: 37-1     Date Filed: 03/21/2023   Page: 2 of 4
    2                     Opinion of the Court                22-10562
    Before WILSON, JILL PRYOR, and LUCK, Circuit Judges.
    PER CURIAM:
    Domingo Soto, appointed counsel for William Leslie New
    in this appeal from the district court’s judgment revoking New’s
    supervised release and ordering him imprisoned, has filed a motion
    to withdraw on appeal, supported by a brief prepared pursuant to
    Anders v. California, 
    386 U.S. 738
     (1967). Before we can consider
    counsel’s motion, however, we must determine whether we have
    jurisdiction.
    In 2015, New was convicted of making a false statement in
    connection with an attempt to acquire a firearm and was sentenced
    to 21 months’ imprisonment followed by a term of supervised re-
    lease. On multiple occasions, the district court found that New had
    violated the terms of his supervised release and revoked his super-
    vised release. Most recently, in October 2021, the district court
    found that New violated the terms of his supervised release by us-
    ing cocaine. The district court revoked New’s supervised release
    and sentenced him to a term of 12 months’ imprisonment, with no
    supervised release term to follow. The court ordered New to begin
    serving his sentence in January 2022. New appealed in February
    2022. Soto was later appointed to represent New and, seeing no
    arguable issue of merit, moved to withdraw. New was released
    from imprisonment in January 2023.
    USCA11 Case: 22-10562      Document: 37-1      Date Filed: 03/21/2023     Page: 3 of 4
    22-10562                Opinion of the Court                         3
    Because of New’s release, we must consider whether this ap-
    peal is moot. We have no authority “to give opinions upon moot
    questions . . . or to declare principles or rules of law which cannot
    affect the matter in issue in the case before [us].” Christian Coal. of
    Fla., Inc. v. United States, 
    662 F.3d 1182
    , 1189 (11th Cir. 2011) (in-
    ternal quotation marks omitted). A case is moot “when it no longer
    presents a live controversy with respect to which the court can give
    meaningful relief.” 
    Id.
     (internal quotation marks omitted). One is-
    sue in a case may become moot, but the case as a whole remains
    alive so long as other issues have not become moot. Univ. of Tex.
    v. Camenisch, 
    451 U.S. 390
    , 394 (1981).
    A defendant’s release from custody does not moot his case
    so long as he is still serving a term of supervised release because he
    remains subject to a restraint on liberty. United States v. Page,
    
    69 F.3d 482
    , 487 n.4 (11th Cir. 1995). In addition, the case of a de-
    fendant who is no longer in custody or serving a term of supervised
    release is not moot so long as the defendant experiences some con-
    tinuing collateral consequence from the judgment he is seeking to
    challenge. Spencer v. Kemna, 
    523 U.S. 1
    , 7-8 (1998). In general, we
    “presume that a wrongful criminal conviction has continuing col-
    lateral consequences.” 
    Id.
     But this same presumption does not ap-
    ply when a defendant who is no longer in custody or serving a term
    of supervised release challenges a judgment that revoked his super-
    vised release. See 
    id. at 14
    . Such a defendant may challenge a revo-
    cation decision only if he can show that he faces actual collateral
    USCA11 Case: 22-10562     Document: 37-1     Date Filed: 03/21/2023   Page: 4 of 4
    4                     Opinion of the Court                22-10562
    consequences as a result of the revocation decision. See Mattern v.
    Sec’y for Dep’t of Corr., 
    494 F.3d 1282
    , 1285-86 (11th Cir. 2007).
    Here, the judgment New is appealing did not convict him of
    any crime or impose any term of supervised release. Instead, it
    found that he had violated the terms of his supervised release and
    ordered him reincarcerated on a prior conviction. That period of
    reincarceration “is now over[] and cannot be undone.” Spencer,
    
    523 U.S. at 8
    . In addition, we see no indication that New faces any
    collateral consequence as a result of the revocation decision. Ac-
    cordingly, we conclude that this appeal no longer presents a live
    controversy as to which we can grant meaningful relief.
    We DISMISS this appeal as moot and DENY AS MOOT all
    pending motions, including Soto’s motion to withdraw.
    APPEAL DISMISSED.