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UNITED STATES v. GREEN (2021)

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.2021-03-26No. No. 20-6038

Summary

Holding. The court affirmed the district court's denial of Green's motion for sentence reduction, finding no reversible error.

Sterling Vernard Green sought a reduction of his sentence under federal statute and the First Step Act, arguing the district court failed to consider his adjusted sentencing guidelines range, his rehabilitation efforts after sentencing, and that he was entitled to a full resentencing hearing. The appellate court found that the district court actually did consider his amended guidelines range, that Green had not raised his rehabilitation efforts as a basis for reduction in the lower court, and that sentence modification proceedings are not equivalent to full resentencing hearings. The court concluded Green failed to demonstrate any legal error warranting reversal.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether district court properly considered amended sentencing guidelines range in sentence reduction motion
  • Whether post-sentencing rehabilitation can support sentence reduction when not raised in district court
  • Whether sentence modification under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(B) requires plenary resentencing

Procedural posture

Green appealed the district court's denial of his motion for sentence reduction under federal statute and the First Step Act.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

Sterling Vernard Green appeals the district courts order denying his motion for sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(B) and § 404(b) of the First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194, 5222. He argues that the district court erred in failing to consider his amended range under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual and evidence of his post-sentencing rehabilitation and in failing to grant him a plenary resentencing. We affirm.

Our review of the record discloses that the district court considered Greens amended Guidelines range and that Green did not advance his post-sentencing rehabilitation efforts as a basis for receiving a sentence reduction in the district court. Additionally, the Supreme Court has recognized that “a sentence modification is not a plenary resentencing proceeding,” Chavez-Meza v. United States, ––– U.S. ––––, 138 S. Ct. 1959, 1967, 201 L.Ed.2d 359 (2018) (internal quotation marks omitted) (addressing sentence reduction motion under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2)), and, in any event, Green fails to advance any reason why such a resentencing would be warranted in this case.

Green fails to establish reversible error by the district court, and we thus affirm its denial order. United States v. Green, No. 4:06-cr-01322-TLW-4, 2019 WL 6726309 (D.S.C. Dec. 11, 2019). We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

PER CURIAM:

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.