United States v. DeJesus
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Date FiledJuly 17, 2026
Docket23-6259
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
23-6259
United States v. DeJesus
In the
United States Court of Appeals
for the Second Circuit
August Term, 2024
No. 23-6259
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Appellee,
v.
JAIRO DEJESUS, AKA SEALED DEFENDANT 1, AKA WHEELS
Defendant-Appellant. ∗
On Appeal from a Judgment of the United States District Court
for the Southern District of New York.
ARGUED: JANUARY 16, 2025
DECIDED: JULY 17, 2026
Before: RAGGI, LIVINGSTON, and NARDINI, Circuit Judges.
After pleading guilty to two drug offenses, Defendant-
Appellant Jairo DeJesus was sentenced to 144 months in prison and
four years of supervised release in the United States District Court for
∗
The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to amend the case caption as
indicated above.
the Southern District of New York (Jesse M. Furman, District Judge).
DeJesus appeals his sentence, arguing that the district court erred by
denying him an adjustment for acceptance of responsibility, and that
his prison term was substantively unreasonable. He also argues that
the district court erred by imposing certain conditions of supervised
release by orally referencing the pages in the presentence report
where they were set forth, rather than reading aloud the conditions in
their entirety; and by imposing a mental health treatment condition
without sufficient support in the record. We reject each of DeJesus’s
arguments and therefore AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
KEVIN MEAD (Olga I. Zverovich, on the brief),
Assistant United States Attorneys, for
Damian Williams, United States Attorney,
Southern District of New York, New York,
NY, for Appellee.
JOHN S. WALLENSTEIN, Law Office of John S.
Wallenstein, Garden City, NY, for Defendant-
Appellant.
WILLIAM J. NARDINI, Circuit Judge:
After pleading guilty to two drug offenses, Defendant-
Appellant Jairo DeJesus was sentenced to 144 months in prison and
four years of supervised release in the United States District Court for
the Southern District of New York (Jesse M. Furman, District Judge).
The court imposed certain standard and special conditions of
supervised release by orally referencing several pages of DeJesus’s
2
presentence investigation report (PSR) at the sentencing hearing. One
of those conditions required that DeJesus participate in mental health
treatment.
DeJesus now appeals. He argues (1) that the district court
procedurally erred by denying an adjustment to his offense level for
acceptance of responsibility under the United States Sentencing
Guidelines, (2) that his 144-month sentence was substantively
unreasonable, (3) that the district court erred by imposing certain
conditions of supervised release by referencing the pages in the PSR
where those conditions were set forth, rather than reading aloud the
conditions in their entirety, and (4) that the district court erred by
imposing the mental health treatment condition without sufficient
support in the record.
We disagree and therefore AFFIRM the judgment of the district
court.
I. Background
Between April 2021 and August 2021, DeJesus sold about 73
grams of substances containing heroin and fentanyl over the course
of five controlled buys. DeJesus was arrested pursuant to a criminal
complaint on August 16, 2021, and he was granted pretrial release the
next day. On the morning of his release, law enforcement officers
searched DeJesus’s apartment and discovered about 3 kilograms of
fentanyl, as well as drug paraphernalia including a kilo press, which
is “a device used to package large quantities of drugs.” United States
v. Babilonia, 854 F.3d 163, 171 (2d Cir. 2017). DeJesus promptly
decided to make a run for the Dominican Republic, of which he is a
3
citizen. So on August 20, DeJesus arranged for a private jet flight from
New York to Miami, and then tried to set up another flight from there
to Haiti. But he was caught before he could complete his escape.
When DeJesus was arrested, more than $15,000 was found hidden in
his shoes. On September 13, 2021, a grand jury returned a two-count
indictment against DeJesus, charging him with (1) conspiracy to
distribute and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance
that weighed 40 grams and more containing fentanyl, in violation of
21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a)(1), and 841(b)(1)(B), and (2) distribution and
possession with intent to distribute of a controlled substance that
weighed 40 grams and more containing fentanyl, in violation of 21
U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(B).
On April 14, 2022, DeJesus participated in a “safety valve
proffer” with the government. A successful safety-valve proffer, in
which the defendant “truthfully provide[s] to the Government all
information and evidence the defendant has concerning the offense
or offenses that were part of the same course of conduct or of a
common scheme or plan,” may entitle a defendant to a sentence
below a statutory minimum, if he also satisfies various other
requirements. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f). To put it mildly, the session did
not go well. As the government reported to the district court, DeJesus
repeatedly lied. Among other things, DeJesus claimed that he never
sold narcotics in his apartment; that the drugs found in the search of
his apartment were not his; that he did not know why photographs
of kilogram-sized bricks of narcotics were on his phone; and that he
had not taken a flight to Miami (he said that he drove).
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II. District Court Proceedings
On June 2, 2022, DeJesus pleaded guilty sans plea agreement to
both counts in the indictment. On October 12, 2022, the Probation
Department issued DeJesus’s final PSR, which calculated DeJesus’s
recommended sentence under the November 2021 Guidelines
Manual. The PSR began by setting the base offense level at 32 based
on the amount of fentanyl involved in the offenses. The offense level
was increased by two pursuant to Guideline § 2D1.1(b)(12) because
DeJesus maintained premises (his apartment) for the purpose of
distributing drugs. It was increased by another two levels pursuant
to Guideline § 3C1.1 (Obstructing or Impeding the Administration of
Justice) because DeJesus tried to flee the country while on pretrial
release. The total offense level of 36, combined with DeJesus’s
criminal history category of I, resulted in a sentencing range of 188 to
235 months. The PSR recommended, however, a total term of
imprisonment of 84 months in light of his familial ties and
responsibilities. The PSR proposed that DeJesus’s term of
imprisonment be followed by four years of supervised release, and
suggested twelve standard and five special conditions of supervised
release, in addition to four conditions that were mandatory with any
term of supervised release. The recommended conditions were listed
in full on pages 22 through 24 of the PSR.
DeJesus filed his objections to the PSR one month later. He
argued that he should not receive a two-point obstruction of justice
enhancement because his attempt to abscond to the Dominican
Republic was not directly related to the criminal conduct for which he
was arrested; that, relatedly, he should receive a downward
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adjustment for acceptance of responsibility; that he should be given a
safety-valve reduction based on his participation in the proffer
session; that he did not maintain his apartment for the purpose of
distributing drugs and that some of the drugs found in the search of
his apartment did not belong to him, so Guideline § 2D1.1(b)(12)
should not be applied. DeJesus emphasized his family ties and the
difficult conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn,
where he was detained, and asked that the court sentence him to time
served.
In light of DeJesus’s objections, the district court scheduled an
evidentiary hearing. The government filed its pre-hearing
submission on January 26, 2023. On February 16, DeJesus submitted
a letter that waived his right to an evidentiary hearing and requested
to proceed to sentencing.
DeJesus appeared for sentencing on March 2, 2023, with an
interpreter present. At the hearing, defense counsel confirmed that
he had read the PSR and discussed it with DeJesus. DeJesus, who
does not read English, confirmed that the PSR was read to him
through an interpreter and that he discussed it with counsel. DeJesus
also confirmed, in light of his waiver of his right to an evidentiary
hearing, that he withdrew his objections to the facts set forth in the
PSR.
DeJesus’s sole argument at sentencing was that he was entitled
to credit for acceptance of responsibility, in the form of a two-level
downward adjustment to his offense level under Section 3E1.1(a) of
the Guidelines, notwithstanding his attempt to flee. DeJesus argued
that he fled simply because he was afraid of the health conditions in
6
jails and prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic. DeJesus did not
dispute that his flight constituted obstruction of justice, which
triggered an upward enhancement to his offense level under
Guideline § 3C1.1. But he insisted that his conduct after his re-arrest
showed that he accepted responsibility for his criminal conduct.
The district court rejected this argument, pointing to
Application Note 4 to Section 3E1.1 (“Note 4”), which provides that
“[c]onduct resulting in an enhancement under § 3C1.1 (Obstructing
or Impeding the Administration of Justice) ordinarily indicates that
the defendant has not accepted responsibility for his criminal
conduct” absent extraordinary circumstances. According to the
district court, DeJesus’s COVID-19-related fears, come August 2021,
did not constitute “extraordinary circumstances” that would justify
applying an acceptance of responsibility adjustment while
simultaneously applying an obstruction enhancement. The court
therefore adopted the PSR’s recommendation that DeJesus’s offense
level was 36. Together with his criminal history category of I, this
yielded a recommended range of imprisonment of 188 to 235 months.
The district court imposed a term of imprisonment of 144
months. This was below both the Guidelines range and the
government’s recommendation of at least 150 months. The district
court explained that it was imposing a below-Guidelines sentence
because the Guidelines calculation was “incredibly high” for a first-
time offender and because jail conditions in August 2021 were “not as
good as they should” have been. App’x at 75. The district court
explained that it nevertheless chose to impose a “substantial
sentence” because DeJesus (1) attempted to flee in an “egregious act
7
of obstruction,” (2) lied during his safety-valve proffer, and
(3) continued to “minimize his culpability.” Id. at 75–76. The district
court further explained that the underlying conduct was “extremely
serious”: It involved large quantities of fentanyl, which is “an
extremely deadly, poisonous substance.” Id. at 76–77.
The district court also imposed a four-year term of supervised
release, though the district court flagged an expectation that DeJesus
would “be removed from this country and supervised release may
therefore be academic.” Id. at 77. The district court stated that, in
addition to the mandatory conditions set forth on page 22 of the PSR,
it would impose “the standard conditions” of supervised release “set
forth on pages 22 and 23 of the presentence report.” App’x at 77–78.
It also stated that it was imposing “the special conditions that are set
forth on pages 23 and 24 of the presentence report.” Id. at 78. As
relevant to this appeal, one of the special conditions mandated that
DeJesus participate in an outpatient mental health treatment
program.
On March 2, 2023, the district court entered a written judgment,
which included the mandatory conditions of supervised release and
standard and special conditions recommended in the PSR.
DeJesus now appeals his sentence.
III. Discussion
On appeal, DeJesus raises various challenges to his sentence.
The standard of review is well established: We review sentences for
reasonableness, which is “‘a particularly deferential form of abuse-of-
discretion review.’” United States v. Davis, 82 F.4th 190, 195 (2d Cir.
8
2023) (citation omitted). This standard of review applies “‘both to the
procedures used to arrive at the sentence (procedural reasonableness)
and to the length of the sentence (substantive reasonableness).’” Id.
at 195–96 (citation omitted). “Procedural error occurs in situations
where, for instance, the district court miscalculates the Guidelines [or]
treats them as mandatory . . . .” United States v. Cossey, 632 F.3d 82, 86
(2d Cir. 2011). We review de novo questions of law, “including our
interpretation of the Guidelines,” and review questions of fact for
clear error. United States v. Yilmaz, 910 F.3d 686, 688 (2d Cir. 2018)
(citation omitted).
A. Acceptance of Responsibility Adjustment
DeJesus contends that the district court procedurally erred by
denying an adjustment to his Guidelines offense level for acceptance
of responsibility. He argues that he was entitled to a two-level
decrease because he “clearly demonstrate[d] acceptance of
responsibility for his offense.” U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(a). (All references are
to the 2021 Sentencing Manual, which applied to this case.) In
denying this adjustment, the district court pointed to Note 4 of
§ 3E1.1, which provides that “[c]onduct resulting in an enhancement
under § 3C1.1 (Obstructing or Impeding the Administration of
Justice) ordinarily indicates that the defendant has not accepted
responsibility for his criminal conduct” but allowed for the possibility
of “extraordinary cases in which adjustments under both §§ 3C1.1 and
3E1.1 may apply.” DeJesus does not dispute that he obstructed justice
by attempting to flee the country in a private jet while on pretrial
release. He nonetheless argues (1) that the district court erred by
9
treating Note 4 as mandatory, and (2) that the district court failed to
adequately account for the facts that his obstruction “occurred early
on,” that he later “freely admitted his conduct,” and that his attempt
to flee was motivated by his “fear of being imprisoned during the
pandemic.” Appellant’s Br. at 13–17.
The district court did not err in its Guidelines calculation. As
an initial matter, “[a]lthough the Guidelines are no longer mandatory,
district courts remain statutorily obliged to calculate Guidelines
ranges in the same manner as before Booker, considering the
applicable Guidelines and their commentary, as well as relevant
policy statements.” United States v. Parnell, 524 F.3d 166, 170 (2d Cir.
2008) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); see also United
States v. Rainford, 110 F.4th 455, 475 n.5 (2d Cir. 2024) (clarifying that
we still defer to Guidelines commentary post-Kisor v. Wilkie, 588 U.S.
558, 574–75 (2019)); United States v. Zheng, 113 F.4th 280, 299–300 (2d
Cir. 2024) (same). Thus, the district court did not err by considering
Note 4 when it calculated DeJesus’s Guidelines offense level. See
United States v. McGrain, 105 F.4th 37, 44 (2d Cir. 2024) (“The reduction
for acceptance of responsibility is unavailable, absent extraordinary
circumstances, to a defendant properly found to merit an obstruction-
of-justice enhancement.”) (citation and internal quotation marks
omitted).
Even setting aside Note 4, we discern no error in the district
court’s conclusion that DeJesus’s case did not warrant an acceptance
of responsibility adjustment. If anything, it was DeJesus’s flagrant
misconduct—not his tepid and late-arriving efforts at good conduct—
that speaks most clearly about whether he truly accepted
10
responsibility for his offense. As the district court observed, DeJesus’s
(quite literal) flight to evade prosecution was egregious, regardless of
the COVID-19 situation in August 2021. DeJesus’s later lies during
his safety valve proffer, as well as his attempts at sentencing to
downplay his culpability, certainly ran counter to any notion that he
was freely accepting responsibility for his criminal conduct.
We therefore reject DeJesus’s claim that the district court erred
by declining to reduce his offense level for acceptance of
responsibility.
B. Substantive Reasonableness
DeJesus next argues that his prison sentence is longer than
necessary and therefore runs afoul of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)’s mandate
that sentences be “sufficient, but not greater than necessary” to
achieve the aims of sentencing. We review the substantive
reasonableness of a sentence deferentially, recognizing the broad
discretion entrusted to sentencing judges. Davis, 82 F.4th at 200.
Sentences are to be set aside for substantive unreasonableness “only
in exceptional cases where the trial court’s decision cannot be located
within the range of permissible decisions.” United States v. Cavera, 550
F.3d 180, 189 (2d Cir. 2008) (en banc) (citation and internal quotation
marks omitted). And that range is wide indeed. “[W]e will reverse
only rare ‘cases that, although procedurally correct, would
nonetheless damage the administration of justice because the
sentence imposed was shockingly high, shockingly low, or otherwise
unsupportable as a matter of law.’” United States v. Fabian, 171 F.4th
174, 194 (2d Cir. 2026) (quoting United States v. Rigas, 583 F.3d 108, 123
11
(2d Cir. 2009)). We lack authority to simply “substitute our own
judgment for the district court’s on the question of what is sufficient
to meet the § 3553(a) considerations in any particular case.” Cavera,
550 F.3d at 189.
The 144‐month sentence imposed on DeJesus, which was below
the advisory Guidelines range, is not “shockingly high” in light of the
record before the district court. It is therefore not substantively
unreasonable. The court permissibly concluded that while “several
grounds . . . justify a below guidelines sentence,” including the
“incredibly high” Guidelines range for a first-time offender and the
poor conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center during
DeJesus’s time there, “a substantial sentence” was nonetheless
warranted because of (1) the “extremely serious” nature of his
trafficking of fentanyl, which is “an extremely deadly, poisonous
substance,” (2) DeJesus’s “egregious act of obstruction,” (3) his
subsequent dishonesty in his safety valve proffer, and (4) his efforts
to “minimize his culpability” as late as the sentencing hearing. App’x
at 75–76. These factors amply support the reasonableness of the
sentence that was imposed.
DeJesus’s arguments to the contrary are unavailing. First, he
argues that the unreasonableness of a 144-month prison term is
demonstrated by the fact that it is five years longer than the Probation
Office’s recommendation. This entirely misses the mark. The
sentencing recommendations of the Probation Office, though often
quite helpful, are no more than that: suggestions that are not entitled
to any judicial deference. Congress has entrusted district judges with
the weighty task of imposing sentences, and a sentence cannot be
12
impugned on appeal by pointing to its divergence from the
recommendation of the Probation Department. See United States v.
Eberhard, 525 F.3d 175, 179 (2d Cir. 2008).
DeJesus also argues that his sentence was unreasonable
because it was greater than both the median and mean sentences for
drug trafficking crimes nationwide and in the Southern District of
New York, as well as the average national sentence for fentanyl
distribution. But this does not change the calculus. Anyone with a
passing knowledge of statistics will recognize that many defendants
will (by definition) be sentenced above the national and local
averages, and many will likewise be sentenced below these marks.
That is the defining characteristic of an average. Just as we will not
disturb a sentence simply because it falls above or below an advisory
guideline range recommended by the Sentencing Commission, we
will not disturb a sentence simply for straying above or below a
national or regional midpoint.
Sentencing is a holistic and case-specific endeavor, and district
judges are entrusted with broad discretion to tailor a sentence that fits
the unique circumstances of both crime and criminal. That is
precisely what the district court did here. It considered that, among
other things, DeJesus attempted to flee the country while on pretrial
release, lied to prosecutors during a proffer session, and sold 73 grams
of narcotics that contained fentanyl. These factors counted against
him. It also considered that DeJesus was a first-time offender, and
that he endured difficult conditions of pretrial detention. These
factors worked in his favor. In light of these aggravating and
mitigating facts and the rest of the record, DeJesus has not
13
compellingly demonstrated that any disparity between his sentence
and those of other similarly situated defendants was unwarranted.
See United States v. Broxmeyer, 699 F.3d 265, 296–97 (2d Cir. 2012).
Finally, to the extent DeJesus challenges the weight the district
court accorded to each of the § 3553(a) factors, he falls well short of
establishing that this is an “exceptional case[] where the trial court’s
decision cannot be located within the range of permissible decisions.”
Cavera, 550 F.3d at 189 (citation and internal quotation marks
omitted). Considering the underlying conduct and the reasons set
forth by the district court, and affording its decision due deference,
we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in
imposing a 144-month term of imprisonment.
C. Oral Pronouncement of Conditions of Supervised
Release
DeJesus next argues that the district court impermissibly
modified its spoken sentence by incorporating into his written
judgment several discretionary conditions of supervised release that,
aside from two special conditions, had been incorporated only by oral
reference to the pages of the PSR in which they were set forth rather
than “specifically discussed” at the proceeding. Appellant’s Br. at 21.
However, we have recently held that “a sentencing court need not
read the full text of every condition on the record.” United States v.
Maiorana, 153 F.4th 306, 314 (2d Cir. 2025) (en banc). Rather, the court
may “as part of the pronouncement of the sentence in the presence of
the defendant during the sentencing proceeding, expressly adopt or
specifically incorporate by reference particular conditions that have
14
been set forth in writing and made available to the defendant in the
PSR, the Guidelines, or a notice adopted by the court.” Id.
The district court’s pronouncement here rigorously adhered to
these requirements. The court confirmed that the PSR had been made
available to DeJesus (and because he did not speak English, it had
been read to him with an interpreter). And the court “specifically
incorporate[d] by reference,” id., the standard and special conditions
contained in the PSR. See App’x at 77–78. The conditions in the
written judgment were identical to the conditions in the PSR. No
more was required. Accordingly, we reject this challenge to the
conditions of supervised release.
D. Mental Health Treatment Condition of Supervised
Release
Finally, DeJesus argues that the district court erred when it
imposed a special condition of supervised release mandating that he
participate in an outpatient mental health treatment program. 1 The
PSR recommended that this condition be imposed, but DeJesus failed
to object to it in the sentencing memorandum that he subsequently
1Specifically, the district court imposed the following condition: “You must
participate in an outpatient mental health treatment program approved by
the United States Probation Office. You must continue to take any
prescribed medications unless otherwise instructed by the health care
provider. You must contribute to the cost of services rendered based on
your ability to pay and the availability of third-party payments. The Court
authorizes the release of available psychological and psychiatric
evaluations and reports, including the presentence investigation report, to
the health care provider.” App’x at 85.
15
filed. DeJesus likewise failed to object at sentencing when the district
court made clear that it was imposing “the special conditions that are
set forth on pages 23 and 24 of the [PSR],” which included this
condition. Id. at 78. As discussed, his only objection to the PSR
concerned the applicability of an acceptance of responsibility
adjustment. Because DeJesus had “notice that a condition of
supervised release [would] be imposed and fail[ed] to object in the
district court, our review is for plain error.” United States v. Robinson,
134 F.4th 104, 109 (2d Cir. 2025); see also, e.g., United States v. McAdam,
165 F.4th 688, 699 (2d Cir. 2026). “To establish plain error, a defendant
must demonstrate: (1) error, (2) that is plain, and (3) that affects
substantial rights.” United States v. Rivera, 115 F.4th 141, 147 (2d Cir.
2024) (quoting United States v. Taylor, 961 F.3d 68, 81 (2d Cir. 2020)).
“If all three requirements are satisfied, then we must also consider
whether the error ‘seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public
reputation of judicial proceedings.’” Id. (quoting United States v.
Bleau, 930 F.3d 35, 39 (2d Cir. 2019)).
As noted earlier, the Supreme Court has established that an
appellate court must review a criminal sentence deferentially,
intervening only if the sentence is unreasonable. See Gall v. United
States, 552 U.S. 38, 41, 46 (2007) (explaining that “appellate review of
sentencing decisions is limited to determining whether they are
‘reasonable’”—that is, by applying “a deferential abuse-of-discretion
standard”). This deferential reasonableness standard applies to all
portions of a criminal sentence, “including conditions of supervised
release,” and thus we lack authority to simply second-guess the
wisdom of a district court’s sentencing decision. United States v.
16
Lawrence, 139 F.4th 115, 121 (2d Cir. 2025). As applied to supervised
release, the reasonableness standard recognizes the “broad latitude”
afforded to district courts to fashion special conditions of supervision.
United States v. Sims, 92 F.4th 115, 120 (2d Cir. 2024).
As a substantive matter, district courts must take care to impose
only those conditions that “serve the non-retributive purposes of
sentencing and ‘involve no greater deprivation of liberty than is
reasonably necessary’ to effect those purposes.” United States v.
Harris, 164 F.4th 181, 194 (2d Cir. 2026) (alteration adopted) (quoting
18 U.S.C. § 3583(d)(2)). “[W]e require ‘narrow tailoring’ only when a
‘special condition implicates a fundamental liberty interest.’”
Lawrence, 139 F.4th at 125 (quoting United States v. Myers, 426 F.3d 117,
126 (2d Cir. 2005). Where a special constitutional interest is not at
stake, there need be only a “reasonable relationship between the
factors considered by the district court in the individualized
assessment and the special condition of release being challenged.”
Sims, 92 F.4th at 124 (quoting United States v. Haverkamp, 958 F.3d 145,
151 (2d Cir. 2020)). “A special condition need not reasonably relate
specifically to any particular § 3553(a) factor, including the offense
conduct, so long as there is a sufficient relationship between the
special condition and at least one of the other factors.” Sims, 92 F.4th
at 124 (citing United States v. McLaurin, 731 F.3d 258, 262 (2d Cir.
2013)); see also Lawrence, 139 F.4th at 125 (affirming that a “search
condition did not need to have a direct relationship to [defendant’s]
offense”).
For a special condition to be procedurally reasonable, a district
court must “make an individualized assessment” and “state on the
17
record the reason for imposing it.” United States v. Betts, 886 F.3d 198,
202 (2d Cir. 2018). “But even in the absence of an explanation, we may
still uphold a condition if ‘the district court’s reasoning is self-evident
in the record.’” Robinson, 134 F.4th at 111 (quoting Betts, 886 F.3d at
202).
DeJesus argues that the district court erred both procedurally
and substantively when it imposed the mental health treatment
condition. It erred procedurally, he contends, because it did not state
its reasons for imposing the condition on the record and because its
reasons for doing so are not self-evident in the record. And it erred
substantively, he argues, because “[t]he record does not support” the
treatment condition that was imposed. Appellant’s Br. at 23.
The district court did not articulate why it was imposing the
mental health treatment condition; though its failure to do so was
understandable, given DeJesus’s lack of objection. See Robinson, 134
F.4th at 111. Even so, contra DeJesus, we hold that the district court’s
reasons for requiring mental health treatment are self-evident in the
record.
DeJesus expressly stated during his interview with the
Probation Office that “[h]e would like to receive mental health
counseling in the future,” reporting that he “ha[d] been having
stressors relating to his legal issues and him being away from his
family.” PSR ¶ 72. The context in which DeJesus made these
statements cannot be overlooked: (1) he expressed his interest in
counseling to the Probation Office, (2) defense counsel was present
when he did so, (3) the condition was included in the PSR, (4) the
district court confirmed that DeJesus had reviewed the PSR
18
recommendation, and (5) defense counsel failed to object either to the
PSR or at sentencing. Put simply, DeJesus raised, and received, the
promise of mental health treatment in the future. And the Guidelines
recommend inclusion of “a condition requiring that the defendant
participate in a mental health program approved by the United States
Probation Office” “[i]f the court has reason to believe that the
defendant is in need of psychological or psychiatric treatment.”
U.S.S.G. § 5D1.3(d)(5). Although on appeal DeJesus now contends
that “[e]xpressing interest in counseling because of the stress induced
by his legal situation is not even close to supporting a requirement of
treatment,” Appellant’s Br. at 23, it is readily apparent why the
district court imposed a mental health treatment condition.
And as a substantive matter, it was eminently reasonable for
the district court to conclude that such a condition was warranted.
Between DeJesus’s desire for treatment, his “extremely serious”
criminal conduct, App’x at 76, and his repeated displays of poor
judgment in attempting to obstruct justice, our deferential standard
of review mandates the conclusion that there was a “reasonable
relationship” between the condition and the goal of furthering
DeJesus’s rehabilitation upon release from prison. Sims, 92 F.4th at
124 (internal quotation marks omitted); see Robinson, 134 F.4th at 111–
12. We therefore conclude that the district court did not plainly err in
imposing the challenged condition.
IV. Conclusion
In sum, we hold as follows:
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1. The district court did not err in declining to apply an
acceptance of responsibility adjustment.
2. The 144-month prison sentence imposed by the district
court was substantively reasonable.
3. The district court did not err by orally incorporating specific
conditions from DeJesus’s PSR by reference during the
sentencing hearing.
4. The district court did not plainly err when it required that
DeJesus undergo mental health treatment as a condition of
supervised release.
We have considered DeJesus’s remaining arguments and find
them to be without merit. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the judgment of
the district court.
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