U.S. v. Frazier

Defendant was convicted of possession of child pornography and was sentenced to 120 months in prison along with seven years of supervised release. On appeal, defendant argued that the district court erred when it did not order a second competency hearing and that it erred in imposing, as a condition of supervised release, the requirement that defendant maintain full-time employment. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding that there was no evidence that a change in the defendant’s mental illness called into question the validity of his prior competency determination. The appellate court further held that the district court did not commit plain error when it placed a work requirement on defendant’s conditions of supervised release, noting that if it becomes clear upon release that defendant cannot fulfill the requirement then defendant could seek to have the condition modified. (EASTERBROOK and SCUDDER, concurring)