MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
PAUL
L. FRIEDMAN, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
On
October 10, 2018, the defendant, Tiera Hight, pled guilty to
two counts of assault, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §
111(a) and 22 D.C. Code § 404, both misdemeanors. On
April 1, 2019, the Court sentenced Ms. Hight to time served
(approximately fifty days in jail, followed by 21 days of
home confinement release in the high intensity supervision
program), and imposed a 12-month period of supervised release
and a $75 assessment - $25 payable to the Clerk of the U.S.
District Court and $50 to the D.C. Superior Court.
See Presentence Investigation Report [Dkt. No. 70]
at 5; Judgment [Dkt. No. 80] at 7. In addition to the
standard conditions of supervision, the Court imposed special
conditions that included requiring Ms. Hight to participate
in an anger management program and cognitive behavioral
treatment. See Judgment [Dkt. No. 80] at 5. Her
period of supervised release is scheduled to end on March 31,
2020.
On
December 2, 2019, U.S. Probation Officer Lisa Davis submitted
a petition alleging that Ms. Hight had violated conditions of
her supervised release. See Probation Petition [Dkt.
No. 85]. The petition alleges that Ms. Hight failed to report
to the Probation Office on three separate occasions.
Id. at 3. The petition also alleges that Ms. Hight
was disruptive during the cognitive behavioral therapy
sessions that the Court ordered her to attend as part of her
supervised release. Id. The petition further alleges
that Ms. Hight was disruptive and insisted that she did not
need a mental health assessment during her initial meeting
with a counselor for the anger management program in which
the Court ordered her to participate as part of her
supervised release. Id. Finally, the petition
alleges that Ms. Hight has not paid the special assessment
imposed in full. Id.
The
Court held a hearing on the supervised release violation on
January 9, 2020. The Probation Office, the government, and
defense counsel agree that imprisonment would not assist Ms.
Hight at this time and do not recommend it. The government
represented, however, that it will seek imprisonment if Ms.
Hight continues to refuse to comply with the conditions of
her supervised release. Having considered the representations
by the Probation Officer, the government, defense counsel,
and Ms. Hight herself at the January 9 hearing, the Court
agrees that Ms. Hight's supervised release should
continue but only on the condition that she comply with this
order. The Court hopes that Ms. Hight may ultimately find
some of these conditions of supervision helpful, but even if
she does not, she is required to participate.
Accordingly,
it is hereby
ORDERED
that Ms. Hight must report to the DC Department of Behavioral
Health for a psychological assessment and provide the
Probation Office with a copy of its report and
recommendation; it is
FURTHER
ORDERED that Ms. Hight must participate in an anger
management program, as specified in the special conditions of
supervision; it is
FURTHER
ORDERED that Ms. Hight must pay $50, the balance of her
special assessment, to DC Courts Banking and Finance
Division, Attn: Reporting and Controls Branch, 616 H Street,
NW, 6th Floor, Rm. 6054, Washington, D.C.
20001;[1] it is
FURTHER
ORDERED that Ms. Hight must provide the Probation Office with
proof of her full time employment, as required by the
standard conditions of supervision, No. 7; and it is
FURTHER
ORDERED that a status conference is scheduled for February
25, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. to confirm whether Ms. Hight has
complied with this order and with all of the other conditions
of her supervised release.
SO
ORDERED.
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Notes:
[1] The special assessment should be paid
to: