OPINION AND ORDER

THERESA L. SPRINGMANN, Chief District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on a Joint Motion for Imposition of a Reduced Sentence Pursuant to Section 404 of the First Step Act [ECF No. 109]. In that Motion, the Defendant and the Government agree that the Fair Sentencing Act's modified penalty structure would have applied to Defendant Rodney Pope's crack-cocaine conviction had the Act been in effect at the time of his sentencing. The U.S. Probation office concurs. The Joint Motion requests that the Court reduce the Defendant's sentence, and enter an amended judgment sentencing him 151 months of imprisonment and 4 years of supervised release.

BACKGROUND

On March 24, 2010, the Defendant was charged in an Indictment with possessing with, on or about February 15, 2010, knowingly and intentionally possessing with intent to distribute five grams or more of cocaine base "crack," a violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). On May 17, 2010, the Defendant pled guilty. Based on the amount of cocaine base, 12.4 grams, and his status under the Guidelines as a career offender, his guideline range was 188 to 235 months. He was sentenced to the low end of the guidelines, 188 months.

DISCUSSION

The First Step Act permits a court that imposed a sentence for a "covered offense" to now "impose a reduced sentence as if sections 2 . . . of the Fair Sentence Act of 2010" were in effect at the time the "covered offense" was committed. First Step Act, § 404 (b). A "covered offense" is "a violation of a Federal criminal statute, the statutory penalties for which were modified by section 2 . . . of the Fair Sentencing Act," that was committed before August 3, 2010. First Step Act, § 404 (a). Section 2 of the Fair Sentencing Act "increased the drug amounts triggering mandatory minimums for crack trafficking offenses from 5 grams to 28 grams in respect to the 5-year minimum and from 50 grams to 280 grams in respect to the 10-year minimum." Dorsey v. United States, 567 U.S. 260, 269 (2012).

The parties agree that the Defendant meets all the criteria to be eligible for a reduction under Section 404 of the First Step Act. Specifically, his offense was committed before August 3, 2010, and the statutory penalties applicable to his offense were modified by Section 2 of the Fair Sentencing Act. The Defendant's statutory maximum term of imprisonment is now 20 years, instead of the previous 40 years. This has the effect of lowering his Career Offender enhancement under USSG § 4B1.1(b), which lowers his total offense level to 29. Under retroactive amendments to the United States Sentencing Guidelines, his advisory guideline range is now 151 to 188 months.

The parties jointly request that the Court reduce his sentence to 151 months. The parties also agree that the Defendant is eligible for a reduction of his term of supervised release. The Court originally imposed the 5-year mandatory minimum term of supervised release. The minimum term of supervised release under the Fair Sentencing Act is 3 years. The parties agree that the amended judgment should reduce the term of supervision from 5 years to 4 years. The parties agree that all the conditions of supervised release shall remain the same.

The Addendum provided by the U.S. Probation Office does not identify any public safety factors that would adversely impact the Court's decision. The Court has considered the Defendant's offense of conviction, the kinds of sentences available, the Defendant's sanctioned disciplinary incidents since incarceration (he has none), and other post sentencing conduct. Having now considered the Joint Motion, and the sentencing factors of § 3553(a), the Court will reduce the Defendant's sentence to 151 months, with 4 years of supervised release to follow.

CONCLUSION

Based on the above, the Court hereby ORDERS that: