United States v. Amaury Rodriguez

── United States v. Amaury Rodriguez ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Date: April 24, 2026 Category: NEW USCA11 Case: 24-12052 Document: 47-1 Date Filed: 04/24/2026 Page: 1 of 17 NOT FOR PUBLICATION In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 24-12052 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus AMAURY RODRIGUEZ, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 1:09-cr-20608-KMM-1 ____________________ Before ROSENBAUM, ABUDU, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Amaury Rodriguez appeals his 24-month imprisonment sen- tence followed by a life term of supervised release imposed upon revocation of his supervised release. He argues that the district USCA11 Case: 24-12052 Document: 47-1 Date Filed: 04/24/2026 Page: 2 of 17 2 Opinion of the Court 24-12052 court violated his right to confrontation by relying on hearsay evi- dence and failing to properly conduct the balancing inquiry pre- scribed by our decision in United States v. Frazier, 26 F.3d 110 (11th Cir. 1994). He also argues that court otherwise clearly erred in sus- taining nearly all the alleged violations. Lastly, he maintains that the imposition of a special condition restricting his computer and modem usage without prior court approval is unconstitutional as an infringement of his First Amendment rights. I. In 2009, Rodriguez pled guilty to distributing child pornog- raphy. The district court sentenced him to 72 months of imprison- ment followed by 84 months of supervised release. He began his term of supervised release in May 2016. Rodriguez’s supervised release was subject to various condi- tions. He was required to notify his probation officer of any change in residence or employment, and to receive permission from the probation officer or the court before leaving the Southern District of Florida. He had to undergo mental-health and sex-offender treatment. He was ordered to comply with the federal Sex Of- fender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”), and to not commit any other crime. And he was prohibited from possessing or using any computer or modem without prior court approval. A. In June 2016, the probation office filed a petition alleging that Rodriguez had violated the terms of his supervised release. In USCA11 Case: 24-12052 Document: 47-1 Date Filed: 04/24/2026 Page: 3 of 17 24-12052 Opinion of the Court 3 May 2018, the court approved a joint stipulation dismissing the pe- tition and modifying the terms of his supervision. In June 2021, Rodriguez moved to modify the terms of su- pervised release, arguing that the prohibition on “any online activ- ity [was] overly restrictive.” Meanwhile, the probation office peti- tioned the court to revoke his supervised release. Eventually, in January 2023, the district revoked Rodriguez’s supervised release based on his admission that he had violated a condition of supervision. The court sentenced him