United States v. Colasuonno

Defendant, convicted of substantive and conspiratorial bank fraud and tax crimes, appealed from an amended judgment resentencing him to four months' imprisonment after he was found to have willfully violated probation by failing to pay ordered restitution. Defendant, who declared bankruptcy after his initial sentencing, submitted that the automatic stay provision of the United States Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. 362(a), temporarily halted his obligation to pay restitution and barred the district court from revoking his probation of nonpayment. At issue was what effect, if any, the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay provision had on court-ordered conditions of a criminal sentence or proceedings to address violations of those conditions. The court concluded that such orders and proceedings fell within an express exception to the automatic stay because they constituted a "continuation of the criminal action or proceeding." Defendant's alternative argument was meritless. The court dismissed the part of defendant's appeal that asked the court to modify the amended judgment to clarify that he was under no obligation to pay restitution while incarcerated, because it was unripe for adjudication. View "United States v. Colasuonno" on Justia Law