Filed: Feb. 19, 2019
Latest Update: Feb. 19, 2019
Summary: MEMORANDUM AND ORDER J. PHIL GILBERT , District Judge . This matter comes before the Court on the defendant's motion for appointment of counsel and for a reduction of her criminal sentence following the retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, Pub. L. 111-220; 2-3, 124 Stat. 2372, 2372 (2010), as set forth in the First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-391, 404, 132 Stat. 5194, 5222 (2018) (Doc. 82). As a preliminary matter, the Court will deny the defendant's requ
Summary: MEMORANDUM AND ORDER J. PHIL GILBERT , District Judge . This matter comes before the Court on the defendant's motion for appointment of counsel and for a reduction of her criminal sentence following the retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, Pub. L. 111-220; 2-3, 124 Stat. 2372, 2372 (2010), as set forth in the First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-391, 404, 132 Stat. 5194, 5222 (2018) (Doc. 82). As a preliminary matter, the Court will deny the defendant's reque..
More
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
J. PHIL GILBERT, District Judge.
This matter comes before the Court on the defendant's motion for appointment of counsel and for a reduction of her criminal sentence following the retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, Pub. L. 111-220; §§ 2-3, 124 Stat. 2372, 2372 (2010), as set forth in the First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-391, § 404, 132 Stat. 5194, 5222 (2018) (Doc. 82).
As a preliminary matter, the Court will deny the defendant's request for appointment of counsel. The Criminal Justice Act, 18 U.S.C. 3006A, does not permit such appointments. United States v. Foster, 706 F.3d 887, 888 (7th Cir. 2013). The Court now turns to the merits of the defendant's request for a reduction.
In a plea hearing held November 1, 2012, the defendant pled guilty to one count of distributing powder cocaine and two counts of distributing crack cocaine. In February 2013, the Court sentenced her to serve 108 months on each count, all to run concurrently. The Court imposed this sentence in accordance with the 2012 Sentencing Guideline Manual. This version of the guidelines incorporated the sentencing amendments made by the Fair Sentencing Act, which had become effective August 3, 2010.
The defendant now asks the Court to reduce her sentence in light of § 404 of the First Step Act.1 Section 404 allows the Court to reduce a defendant's sentence for a crack cocaine offense, but only if the Court had imposed that sentence before another statute—the Fair Sentencing Act—lowered the statutory sentencing range for that crack cocaine offense. First Step Act, § 404(b). In essence, the First Step Act retroactively applies the Fair Sentencing Act's lower statutory sentencing ranges and allows the Court to bring past sentences into line with the lower ranges. However, the First Step Act prohibits the Court from entertaining a motion to reduce a sentence where the Court had previously imposed that sentence in accordance with the amendments made by §§ 2 and 3 of the Fair Sentencing Act. First Step Act § 404(c).
The Court cannot entertain the defendant's motion because it previously imposed the defendant's sentence in accordance with the amendments made by the Fair Sentencing Act. Those amendments were incorporated into the 2012 Sentencing Guideline Manual under which the defendant was sentenced.
For the foregoing reasons, the Court DENIES the defendant's motion for appointment of counsel and DISMISSES the defendant's motion for a sentence reduction based on the First Step Act's retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act (Doc. 82).
IT IS SO ORDERED.
