US v. Rios: Rios was convicted of a drug conspiracy and sentenced to 121 months in prison, followed by a 5-year term of supervised release. Four years into his term of imprisonment he was deported to Mexico, pursuant to a treaty, to serve the rest of his sentence. After he was released, he illegally reentered the United States and was convicted of that offense. In addition, his probation officer sought to revoke his original term of supervised release. Rios was sentenced to another 24-month term of imprisonment, with the district court concluded that he had received “very lenient treatment” due to the deportation and that he “essentially stuck a thumb in the eye of the American authorities by saying I’m coming back before I’m even supposed to be out of prison.”
On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the revocation of Rios’ term of supervised release. Rios argued that the district court lacked jurisdiction over him because of the terms of the treaty under which he was deported. The treaty provided that the “laws and procedures” of the receiving state (Mexico, in this case) govern the rest of an inmate’s sentence, including “provisions for . . . conditional release.” Thus, only a Mexican court had authority to deal with his term of supervised release. The court rejected that argument, concluding that the provision only meant that Mexican law controlled conditions of confinement and early release, but did not strip the United States of any jurisdiction related to the sentence.
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