Court Vacates Sentence Over Drug-Test Violation Grading

The Fourth Circuit found a district court wrongly classified positive drug tests as a Grade B violation, elevating the sentencing range.

Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Drug Crime

Court Vacates Sentence Over Drug-Test Violation Grading

The Fourth Circuit vacated a revocation sentence after finding the district court plainly erred by classifying drug-test violations as Grade B rather than Grade C. The case has been remanded to the district court for resentencing.

Why it matters

The ruling confirms that the Guidelines' violation grading must track the conduct actually charged, so a sentence built on a misclassified grade can be set aside on appeal. The decision affects how courts treat supervised-release violations involving controlled substances.

The district court calculated a Guidelines range of 8 to 14 months but imposed 19 months, an upward variance. The Fourth Circuit's vacatur turned on whether the positive drug tests were properly graded as Grade B or Grade C violations.

The players

Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals

The federal appellate court covering Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia, which issued the ruling vacating the sentence.

Middle District of North Carolina

The federal trial court in Greensboro that revoked the defendant's supervised release and imposed the 19-month sentence.

The details

The defendant, previously convicted of Hobbs Act robbery and a firearm offense, began violating supervised release soon after leaving prison. The petition charged only positive controlled-substance tests, and the Fourth Circuit held that the Grade B classification was an error affecting substantial rights. The court also rejected the government's argument that drug use could be inferred from the failed tests.

The defendant began violating supervised release shortly after release from prison.
The Fourth Circuit opinion was published on November 2, 2026.

Legal Context

The decision applies U.S.S.G. § 7B1.1, which ties Grade B violations to conduct punishable by more than one year of imprisonment, and it holds that a drug-test-only petition cannot support that grade. Federal appellate courts routinely review such Guidelines classifications on plain-error review, and this ruling follows that line of precedent.

Defendants on federal supervised release face revocation penalties calculated from the violation grade, so a misclassified grade can add months to a sentence. The ruling means the grade must match the charged conduct, which affects how revocation proceedings are contested nationwide.

The takeaway

Supervised-release violations must be graded against the conduct actually charged, and a positive drug test alone does not automatically support a Grade B classification. Anyone facing revocation should check how the violation grade was calculated.