Free Order on Motion to Reduce Sentence re Crack Cocaine Offense - 18:3582 - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

Case 3:00-cr-00263-JCH

Document 1942

Filed 09/05/2008

Page 1 of 2

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Plaintiff, v. ANDRE DAWSON Defendant. : : : : : : :

CRIMINAL NO. 3:00-CR-263(JCH)

SEPTEMBER 4, 2008

RULING The defendant has moved for a reduction of his sentence due to the recent amendment of the Sentencing Guidelines concerning crack cocaine. The Sentencing Commission has amended the Guidelines, through Amendment 706, effective November 1, 2007, to reduce the base offense level for most crack offenses, and it has determined to apply it retroactively, effective March 3, 2008, U.S.S.G. App. C., Amendment 713. However, a defendant's sentence may only be reduced if he was "sentenced to a term of imprisonment based on a sentencing range that has subsequently been lowered by the Sentencing Commission." 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). A reduction, however, must be consistent with the applicable Policy Statements in the Guidelines. In its revisions to Guideline 1B1.10, the Commission expressly provided that a sentencing court is not authorized to reduce a defendant's sentence when a retroactive amendment does not result in lowering the applicable sentencing range for the defendant. "A reduction in the defendant's term of imprisonment is not consistent with this policy statement and therefore is not authorized under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) if . . . an amendment listed in subsection (c) does not have the effect of lowering the

Case 3:00-cr-00263-JCH

Document 1942

Filed 09/05/2008

Page 2 of 2

defendant's applicable guideline range." U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10(a)(2)(B). In this case, the defendant was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 120 months. The court arrived at that sentence after calculating the defendant's guideline to be offense level 29 and his criminal history II, for a range of 97 to 121 months. However, the defendant's offense of conviction carried a mandatory minimum of 120 months. Thus, the guideline became 120 to 121 months. In light of the above, defendant does not qualify for a reduction in sentence. While his guideline calculation is changed by the Amendment (to a level 27/II or 78 to 97 months), the court can not impose any sentence lower than 120 months, the sentence the court previously imposed. For the foregoing reasons, the defendant's Motion to Reduce Sentence (Doc. No. 1870) is Denied. SO ORDERED. Dated at Bridgeport, Connecticut, this 4th day of September, 2008.

/s/ Janet C. Hall Janet C. Hall United States District Judge

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