Pleas & Sentencing

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Joseph A. Phelps

Case No.: 15-2528

Officials: POSNER, SYKES, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Pleas & Sentencing

Judge missteps in calculating appellant’s new sentence in lieu of Amendment 782 to Sentencing Guidelines.

“But the application notes do not explicitly address the more complicated situation presented here. Phelps was initially sentenced to a term of imprisonment—120 months—that was below the original unamended guideline range, but for reasons unrelated to substantial assistance. Only later did the court reduce the sentence based on the government’s substantial-assistance motion. Phelps argues that in this situation a sentence reduction “comparably less than the amended guideline range” requires the same sort of approach specified in application note 3: a straightforward calculation of the ratio between his current 60-month sentence and the original unamended guideline range. The government agrees

Reversed and Remanded

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