Sentencing — Fair Sentencing Act

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Sentencing — Fair Sentencing Act

The Fair Sentencing Act does not apply to offenders who received the mandatory minimum prior to the Act.

“Robinson maintains, as he did in his second motion under Section 3582(c)(2), that the Act’s reduced mandatory minimum applies to him even though his conduct and sentence both occurred before August 3, 2010, the Act’s effective date. He cites Dorsey v. United States, 132 S. Ct. 2321 (2012), to support his argument. But Dorsey provides Robinson no relief. The Supreme Court in Dorsey held only that ‘Congress intended the Fair Sentencing Act’s new, lower mandatory minimums to apply to the post-Act sentencing of pre-Act offenders.’ Id. at 2335 (emphasis added). The Act’s lower mandatory minimums do not apply to offenders, like Robinson, sentenced before its effective date. The Courts of Appeals unanimously so held before the Supreme Court decided Dorsey. See, e.g., United States v. Baptist, 646 F.3d 1225, 1229 (9th Cir. 2011) (collecting cases). And Dorsey carefully confined its application of the Fair Sentencing Act to pre-Act offenders who were sentenced after the Act. Robinson, therefore, has received the lowest possible sentence under the statute.”

Affirmed.

12-1391 U.S. v. Robinson

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, McCuskey, J., Per Curiam.