United States v. Blake

GOODWIN, Circuit Judge:

This appeal raises one question: when a criminal defendant’s sentence of imprisonment is reduced below the time he has already served, due to a retroactive change in the sentencing guidelines, does his supervised release obligation commence on the date of his actual release or on the date he should have been released according to his revised sentence?

We conclude that, while the statutory scheme is not crystal clear, the supervised release portion of the sentence begins on the date a prisoner’s term of imprisonment expires, whether or not he is released on that date. The…