Sentencing – Crack cocaine

Listen to this article

U.S. Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Criminal

Criminal

Sentencing – Crack cocaine

Section 3582(c)(2) only applies to a defendant “who has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment based on a sentencing range that has subsequently been lowered by the Sentencing Commission” retroactively.

“The ‘sentencing range’ that must have been changed to permit relief under § 3582(c)(2) is not the base offense level or any other intermediate step in the guideline calculation, but the bottom-line, final range that was the basis for the sentence. Relief is not available if a retroactive amendment ‘does not have the effect of lowering the defendant’s applicable guideline range.’ U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10(a)(2)(B); United States v. Taylor, 627 F.3d at 676 (relief not available under § 3582(c)(2) where retroactive amendment reduced final offense level by one level but guideline imprisonment range remained 360 months to life); see also United States v. Robinson, 697 F.3d at 444 (relief not available under § 3582(c)(2) where final guideline range had been based on statutory mandatory minimum not affected by retroactive guideline amendment). Taylor was not eligible for a sentence reduction because the sentencing range of 188 to 235 months for his drug crimes was not changed by Amendments 748 and 750.”

Affirmed.

13-2978 U.S. v. Taylor

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Gilbert, J., Hamilton, J.

Full Text