No. 20-1539 ___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Charles R. Trent

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City ____________

Submitted: January 15, 2021 Filed: May 6, 2021 [Published] ____________ Before SMITH, Chief Judge, KELLY and ERICKSON, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM.

In March 2020, the district court determined that Charles Trent had violated the conditions of his supervised release and sentenced him to 51 months’ imprisonment. Trent appeals that sentence, arguing that the court misclassified three of his violations as grade A under Chapter 7 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines. We reverse and remand for resentencing. Trent pleaded guilty in 2009 to one count of conspiracy to distribute more than 50 grams of cocaine base. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(iii), 846 (2006). The district court sentenced him to 120 months in prison, followed by a ten-year term of supervised release. His term of supervision began in May 2016.

In January 2019, Trent’s probation officer filed a report alleging that Trent had violated three conditions of his supervised release: that he not commit another crime; that he not possess a firearm; and that he notify his probation officer within 72 hours of being arrested or questioned by law enforcement. In September 2019, while Trent was awaiting a hearing on these alleged violations, law enforcement discovered him in possession of 4.86 grams of cocaine. Based on this incident, the probation officer filed a supplemental report alleging that Trent had again violated conditions of his release: that he not commit another crime; that he not unlawfully possess a controlled substance; and that he not purchase, possess, use, distribute, or administer any controlled substance, except as prescribed by a physician.

The district court scheduled a final revocation hearing for March 2020. In advance of the hearing, the probation office submitted a revocation packet, which included a worksheet that assigned grades to each of Trent’s alleged violations. The violations from January 2019 were all categorized as grade B or grade C, while the three violations from September 2019 were all categorized as grade A. See United States Sentencing Guidelines § 7B1.1 (2018). With A as the most serious grade of violation and a criminal history category of VI, the Guidelines recommendation was 51 to 60 months’ imprisonment. See id. § 7B1.4; 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3).

Two days before the hearing, Trent stipulated to the three September 2019 violations, all of which were based on his possession of cocaine. However, he “maintain[ed] that the cocaine base found on his person on September 3, 2019 was for personal use and he denie[d] that he possessed it with intent to distribute. Having said that, [he] agree[d] that his possession of the cocaine base constitute[d] a violation

-2- of th[ese] condition[s].” In exchange for Trent’s stipulations, the government agreed that it would not bring any additional “firearms or drugs related” charges based on the conduct underlying his violations.

On March 12, 2020, the district court held a final revocation hearing. Summarizing the various violations at issue, it characterized each of the three violations from January 2019 as either grade B or grad