Collateral Attack of Sentence Not Permitted at Supervised Release Revocation Hearing

In United States v. Jones, No. 15-1636 (3d Cir., Aug.17, 2016), Defendant sought to challenge the classification of his underlying conviction during his supervised release revocation hearing. Specifically, Defendant attempted to argue that, in light of Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. 133 (2010) and Johnson v. United States, 135 S.Ct. 2551 (2015), his ACCA conviction should be graded as a Class C felony instead of a Class A felony. The Third Circuit rejected Defendant’s argument in short order, by announcing that it was joining several of its sister circuits who have ruled that the validity of an underlying conviction may not be collaterally attacked in a supervised release revocation proceeding. Such challenges may only be raised on direct appeal or through a habeas corpus proceeding. The Third Circuit rejected Defendant’s claim that he sought only to challenge the decision rendered by the district court during the present revocation hearing. The Court concluded that, as the underlying conviction had been properly classified when Defendant was initially sentenced, he could not challenge this proper classification during a subsequent revocation hearing.