Argued
and Submitted October 7, 2016 Pasadena, California
Appeal
from the United States District Court for the Central
District of California James V. Selna, District Judge,
Presiding D.C. No. 8:12-cr-00240-JVS-10
Marri
Derby (argued), Newport Beach, California, for
Defendant-Appellant.
Kevin
M. Lally (argued), Chief, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement
Task Force Section; Lawrence S. Middleton, Chief, Criminal
Division; Eileen M. Decker, United States Attorney; United
States Attorney's Office, Los Angeles, California; for
Plaintiff-Appellee.
Before: Stephen S. Trott, John B. Owens, and Michelle T.
Friedland, Circuit Judges.
SUMMARY[*]
Criminal
Law
Affirming
the district court's denial of a motion for modification
of the conditions of probation, the panel held that a
congressional appropriations rider that prohibits the
Department of Justice from using certain funds to prosecute
individuals for engaging in conduct permitted by state
medical marijuana laws does not impact the ability of a
federal district court to restrict the use of medical
marijuana as a condition of probation.
OPINION
PER
CURIAM
We must
decide whether a congressional appropriations rider that
prohibits the Department of Justice from using certain funds
to prosecute individuals for engaging in conduct permitted by
state medical marijuana laws impacts the ability of a federal
district court to restrict the use of medical marijuana as a
condition of probation. We hold that it does not.
I.
Defendant-Appellant
Alan David Nixon pled guilty to aiding and abetting the
maintenance of a drug-involved premise in violation of 21
U.S.C. § 856(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2(a). The
district court sentenced Nixon to a three-year term of
probation. As a condition of probation, the district court
required that Nixon refrain from unlawful use of a controlled
substance and submit to periodic drug testing.
After
Nixon had served approximately one year of his probationary
term, Congress enacted an omnibus appropriations bill that
included the following rider:
None of the funds made available in this Act to the
Department of Justice may be used, with respect to the States
of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii,
Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and
Wisconsin, to prevent such States ...