In United States v. Magdaleno, --- F.4th --- (9th Cir. 2022), the Court affirmed the district court’s imposition of a special condition of supervised release set forth in the plea agreement that prohibits Johnny Magdaleno from associating with any member of the Norteño or Nuestra Familia gangs.
On appeal, Magdaleno argued that this condition violates his fundamental right to familial association because it does not exclude his siblings who might be gang members.
The Court disagreed. Although it held that the challenge was not barred by the invited-error doctrine, the Court concluded that Magdaleno's relationship with a sibling or half sibling does not inherently constitute an “intimate relationship” with a “life partner,” child, or fiancée, and thus does not give rise to a “particularly significant liberty interest” that would require the district court to undertake additional procedural steps at sentencing.
Further, the condition was not substantively unreasonable. "Although we do not rule out the possibility that a sibling relationship could, under certain circumstances, give rise to a particularly significant liberty interest, Magdaleno offers no evidence to suggest that any of his sibling relationships is comparable, in its level of support and intimacy, to a relationship with one’s child, “life partner,” or fiancée. Furthermore, Magdaleno’s scheduled release date is more than two decades away. His familial circumstances could change significantly in that time. Thus, while Magdaleno can move to modify the Gang Condition closer to his release date if the circumstances warrant, it would be inappropriate for us to do so now when he has cited no evidence to show the existence of an intimate familial relationship to begin with."
