2nd Circuit Affirms Drug Dealer's 15-Year Sentence But Nixes 'Standard' Supervision Terms

LitNews.ai Staff · March 25, 2026 · Second Circuit

Panel: Chief Judge Livingston, Circuit Judge Lynch, Circuit Judge Menashi · Opinion by: Circuit Judge Gerard E. Lynch

The Second Circuit on Tuesday mostly affirmed a 15-year prison sentence for a Brooklyn crack cocaine dealer who challenged his conviction on multiple grounds, but ruled the trial judge erred by failing to inform the defendant about supervision conditions at sentencing, saying "a district court must make a defendant aware of standard conditions of supervised release that it intends to impose."

Rafael Antonio Fabian was convicted of conspiring to distribute crack cocaine after federal agents traced him through a speeding ticket that linked him to encrypted messages with co-conspirator Carlos Suriel. The government proved Fabian supplied Suriel with kilograms of powder cocaine on consignment, knowing it would be cooked into crack, and even advised Suriel on cooking techniques to maximize yield. DEA agents seized over 350 grams of crack during the investigation, enough for approximately 5,500 individual uses.

Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch rejected Fabian's challenges to the conviction, finding sufficient evidence supported the jury's verdict despite his claims that he was merely in a buyer-seller relationship with Suriel. "The evidence is therefore overwhelming that Fabian and Suriel 'shared a conspiratorial purpose to advance other transfers' by Suriel," Lynch wrote, noting that Fabian provided wholesale quantities of cocaine, gave business advice to Suriel, and had a financial stake in the crack sales. The court also found no error in the trial judge's jury instructions or in the 15-year sentence, which was well below the Guidelines recommendation of life imprisonment.

Fabian had argued the evidence was insufficient and that his sentence was unreasonable, particularly challenging the district court's consideration of acquitted conduct involving powder cocaine and heroin conspiracies. The jury convicted him only of the crack conspiracy while acquitting on the other drug charges. District Judge Dora Irizarry of the Eastern District of New York had sentenced Fabian under the 2021 Guidelines after he was arrested in March 2016.

The appeals court remanded solely on the supervised release conditions issue, following its recent en banc decision in United States v. Maiorana requiring courts to inform defendants of supervision terms at sentencing. The ruling reflects growing scrutiny of sentencing procedures even as courts continue to affirm lengthy drug sentences. Fabian must now return to district court where Judge Irizarry can either reimpose the supervision conditions after proper notice or strike them from the judgment.

Counsel

Fabian is represented by Timothy P. Murphy of the Federal Public Defender's Office for the Western District of New York.

The government is represented by Amy Busa and Drew Rolle of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Case: The case is United States v. Fabian, case number 22-1247-cr, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Court

Second Circuit

Case Name

United States v. Fabian

Docket

22-1247