United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit _____________________________________

August Term 2022

(Argued: June 30, 2023 Decided: March 15, 2024)

No. 21-2954

_____________________________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Appellee,

— v. —

ALEX OLIVERAS,

Defendant-Appellant.

_____________________________________ Before: LYNCH, BIANCO, AND PÉREZ, Circuit Judges.

Defendant-Appellant Alex Oliveras appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Arcara, J.), entered November 23, 2021, following his guilty plea, sentencing him principally to sixty- three months’ imprisonment and a three-year supervised release term for possessing cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C), and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i). Oliveras’s sole contention on appeal is that the imposition of a special condition of supervised release that subjects him to suspicionless searches by a probation officer (the “Search Condition”) violates the Fourth Amendment.

We conclude that the “special needs” doctrine of the Fourth Amendment permits, when sufficiently supported by the record, the imposition of a special condition of supervised release that allows the probation officer to conduct a suspicionless search of the defendant’s person, property, vehicle, place of residence, or any other property under his or her control. However, the district court exceeded its discretion in imposing that special condition here because it failed to make the individualized assessment required to support the special condition under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d), including a sufficient explanation as to how the condition is reasonably related in this particular case to the applicable statutory factors under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) and involves no greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary under those factors.

Accordingly, we VACATE the Search Condition and REMAND to the district court for further consideration of whether it is necessary to impose the Search Condition in this particular case and, if so, for the district court to explain the individualized basis for imposing the Search Condition.

TIFFANY H. LEE, Assistant United States Attorney, for Trini E. Ross, United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, Buffalo, NY.

TIMOTHY P. MURPHY, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Federal Public Defender’s Office, Buffalo, NY. JOSEPH F. BIANCO, Circuit Judge:

Defendant-Appellant Alex Oliveras appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Arcara, J.), entered

2 November 23, 2021, following his guilty plea, sentencing him principally to sixty- three months’ imprisonment and a three-year supervised release term for possessing cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C), and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i). Oliveras’s sole contention on appeal is that the imposition of a special condition of superv