8th Circuit removes a sex offender supervision condition from a drug conviction sentence, since the…
United States v. Brandon Jones
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Plain English
8th Circuit removes a sex offender supervision condition from a drug conviction sentence, since the government admitted the condition was wrongly imposed. The prison sentence itself stands.
Why it matters
The Eighth Circuit ruled that a sex offender registration condition placed on Brandon Jones's supervised release was improperly imposed, given that Jones had no sex offense conviction. The government conceded the error, and the court vacated that condition while upholding the length of the sentence as not substantively unreasonable.
Who it affects
This ruling directly affects Brandon Jones, whose supervised release conditions will be amended to remove the sex offender registration requirement. More broadly, it serves as a reminder to federal courts that supervised release conditions must be tied to a defendant's actual criminal history.
What happens next
Current
Decision issued Jul 16, 2026
Unpublished opinion
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- Decision issued Jul 16, 2026Unpublished opinion
- Possible rehearingParties can ask the same court to reconsider.
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Decision issued
Jul 16, 2026 · Unpublished opinion
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DEEPER READ
Brandon Jones pleaded guilty to drug offenses and was sentenced by a federal district court in the Eastern District of Missouri. As part of his supervised release conditions, the court imposed a requirement related to sex offender registration, even though Jones had never been convicted of a sex offense. Jones appealed both that condition and the overall length of his sentence. The government agreed that the sex offender registration condition was a mistake. Because of that concession, the Eighth Circuit vacated that specific condition without further analysis. The court directed the district court to amend the judgment to remove it. On the question of whether the prison sentence itself was too long, the court reviewed the district court's decision for abuse of discretion, following its prior ruling in United States v. Feemster. The court found no such abuse and upheld the sentence in all other respects. There was no dissent noted in this opinion. The case was decided by a three-judge panel in a brief, unpublished per curiam opinion, meaning no single judge authored it and it carries limited precedential weight.
CITATION AND RECORD
Record source: CourtListener
United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 25-2258 ___________________________ United States of America lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee v. Brandon Jones lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis ____________ Submitted: July 13, 2026 Filed: July 16, 2026 [Unpublished] ____________ Before ERICKSON, GRASZ, and STRAS, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM. Brandon Jones appeals the sentence the district court imposed after he pled guilty to drug offenses. He challenges a condition of supervised release related to sex offender registration, arguing that he has never been convicted of a sex offense. He also argues his sentence is substantively unreasonable. The government concedes that imposition of the condition of supervised release was erroneous. In light of that concession, we vacate the challenged condition. As to Jones’s challenge to the length of his sentence, we conclude the district court did not impose a substantively unreasonable sentence. See United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d 455, 461 (8th Cir. 2009) (en banc) (abuse of discretion review). We vacate imposition of the challenged condition and remand with directions that the judgment be amended to remove the condition. We affirm the sentence in all other respects. ______________________________ -2-
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