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Criminal Procedure — Ex Post Facto Clause

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//September 25, 2014//

Criminal Procedure — Ex Post Facto Clause

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//September 25, 2014//

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Criminal

Criminal Procedure — Ex Post Facto Clause

U.S.S.G. 1B1.10, which prohibits courts from applying retroactive amendments to the guidelines to reduce the sentence of any defendant which was already below the minimum of the amended guidelines, does not violate the Ex Post Facto clause.

“Diggs primarily argues that the effect of the policy amendment to § 1B1.10 was to make his sentence harsher, because if Amendment 750 was enacted at any time between the time he was sentenced and the policy amendment in 2011, he would be eligible for that sentence reduction. Thus, his argument is as follows: the policy amendment was an ex post facto law, because it ‘resulted in [Diggs] receiving a harsher sentence than he would have received under the law in effect at the time he committed his offense.’ However, that final statement is not complete. A more appropriate summarization of Diggs’ argument is that the policy amendment was an ex post facto law, because it resulted in a harsher sentence than Diggs’ would have received if Amendment 750 was in effect at the time of Diggs’ original sentence. This missing language ultimately dooms Diggs’ argument, be-cause he has no constitutional entitlement to a retroactive reduction of his sentence. Dillon, 560 U.S. at 828. Thus, it is ultimately unimportant that the policy amendment changed the policy in effect at the time of Diggs’ sentencing because it affected a law that became more lenient.”

Affirmed.

13-2718 U.S. v. Diggs

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Kendall, J., Cudahy, J.

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