CA7: Supervised release search condition without reasonable suspicion unreasonable here

Because defendant wasn’t a sex offender or involved with contraband, a supervised released search condition of searches without reasonable suspicion was unreasonable. United States v. Farmer, 755 F.3d 849 (7th Cir. 2014):

“[W]e are … at a loss to see how this broad search and seizure authority is connected to [Farmer’s] offense, history, and personal characteristics, or how it is reasonably necessary to furthering the deterrence, public protection, and rehabilitative goals articulated in 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d)(2).” Goodwin, 717 F.3d at 523. The record does not indicate that contraband played any role in Farmer’s current or past offenses. “Although we stop short of stating that such restrictions could never be appropriate in these circumstances, our skepticism leads us to conclude that the district court must provide some justification for these particular conditions.” Id. The error here is not harmless, because the consistency of this condition with the statutory sentencing factors is far from plain: it is difficult to identify how this search condition is reasonably related to the nature of the offense, the characteristics of the defendant, or the need to deter, protect the public, or provide the defendant with rehabilitation. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 3583(d)(1), 3553(a); cf. Siegel, 2014 WL 2210762 at *7 (holding that a district court that did not give reasons for a condition it was imposing committed harmless error if “[t]he consistency of that condition with the statutory sentencing factors is plain, given the nature of [the underlying] crime”).

Accordingly, we vacate this condition of supervised release and remand for further consideration consistent with this opinion.