UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Herman Sean BAYLOR, Defendant-Appellee

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit2009-02-11No. No. 08-2419

556 F.3d 672

Summary · law.co

Holding. The district court did not have authority to grant Baylor's motion for sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) because Amendment 706 did not lower his applicable Guidelines range; his range remained controlled by the unmodified statutory mandatory minimum of 120 months. The court reversed and remanded with instructions to reinstate the original 90-month sentence.

Herman Sean Baylor pleaded guilty to crack cocaine possession with intent to distribute and received a 90-month sentence after the government successfully moved for a downward departure from his 120-month statutory mandatory minimum. Later, Amendment 706 to the Sentencing Guidelines reduced base offense levels for crack offenses, and Baylor sought a sentence reduction under the statute permitting such reductions when Guidelines ranges are lowered. The district court granted his motion and reduced his sentence to 75 months.

The appellate court reversed, holding that Baylor was not eligible for a sentence reduction because Amendment 706 did not lower his applicable Guidelines range. Although Amendment 706 reduced the base offense level for crack crimes, Baylor's Guidelines range was controlled by his statutory 120-month mandatory minimum, which Amendment 706 did not alter. Since the amendment had no effect on Baylor's actual Guidelines range—which remained 120 months in both the original and post-amendment calculations—the district court lacked authority to reduce his sentence under the applicable statute and regulation.

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

Key issues

Whether a Guidelines amendment reducing crack offense base levels lowers a defendant's applicable Guidelines range when a statutory mandatory minimum exceeds the amended range
Whether a district court has authority under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) to reduce a sentence when the Guidelines amendment does not alter the defendant's applicable range due to a statutory mandatory minimum
Effect of a prior government motion for downward departure on a defendant's Guidelines range for purposes of sentence reduction motions

Procedural posture

The government appealed the district court's order granting Baylor's motion to reduce his sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) following Amendment 706 to the Sentencing Guidelines.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion · public domain

majority opinion

PER CURIAM.

The government appeals the district court’s order granting Herman Sean Baylor’s motion to reduce his sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) based on Amendment 706 to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual (“U.S.S.G”), which reduced the base offense levels for certain cocaine base (crack) offenses. We reverse.

Baylor pleaded guilty to possessing five grams or more of crack with the intent to deliver in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). His initial advisory Guidelines range was seventy-eight to ninety-seven months. However, because this was his second felony drug conviction, he was subject to a statutory mandatory minimum of 120 months. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B). The government moved to depart downward from the mandatory minimum for substantial assistance under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e). The district court granted the government’s motion, and sentenced Baylor to ninety months imprisonment.

After the passage of Amendment 706, which generally lowered the Guidelines base offense level for crack offenses by two levels, Baylor moved to reduce his sentence to within his allegedly new Guidelines range of sixty-three to seventy-eight months. See 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). Granting his motion, the district court reduced Baylor’s sentence to seventy-five months imprisonment. The government appealed.

Whether the district court properly determined it had the authority to modify a sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) is a legal question reviewed de novo. United States v. White, 305 F.3d 1264, 1267 (11th Cir.2002).

A district court does not have the authority to grant a § 3582(c)(2) sentencing reduction if the relevant Guidelines amendment does not have the effect of lowering the defendant’s applicable Guidelines range. 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c); U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10(a). Under the Guidelines, “where a statutorily required minimum sentence is greater than the maximum of the applicable guideline range, the statutorily required minimum sentence shall be the guideline sentence.” U.S.S.G. § 5Gl.l(b). Because Baylor’s mandatory minimum sentence of 120 months was greater than the maximum of his original Guidelines range (ninety-seven months), his final original Guidelines “range” was 120 months. See United States v. Jones, 523 F.3d 881, 882 (8th Cir.2008). Amendment 706 did not alter the statutory mandatory mínimums for crack offenses. See Kimbrough v. United States, — U.S. -, 128 S.Ct. 558, 574, 169 L.Ed.2d 481 (2007) (noting that district courts remain “constrained by the mandatory mínimums Congress prescribed in the 1986 Act”). Thus, Baylor’s Guidelines range was unaffected by Amendment 706, and it remains 120 months. See Jones, 523 F.3d at 882. The fact that the government originally moved to depart downwards from the mandatory minimum did not impact Baylor’s Guidelines range and thus is irrelevant. See United States v. Johnson, 517 F.3d 1020, 1024 (8th Cir.2008). Because Baylor’s original and post-Amendment 706 Guidelines ranges are the same, the district court did not have the authority to grant Baylor’s § 3582(c)(2) motion for a sentencing reduction. See U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10 app. note 1(A) (“[A] reduction in the defendant’s term of imprisonment is not authorized under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c) ... if ... the amendment does not have the effect of lowering the defendant’s applicable guideline range because of the operation of ... another statutory provision (e.g., a statutory mandatory minimum term of imprisonment.”)); Jones, 523 F.3d at 882; Johnson, 517 F.3d at 1024.

Ill

We vacate Baylor’s reduced sentence of seventy-five months imprisonment and remand to the district court with instructions to reinstate his original sentence of ninety-months imprisonment.