United States v. Ali Akbar

346 F. App'x 138

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: October 2, 2009
• Docket: 09-1756
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Ali Akbar appeals the district court’s 1 order reducing his sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) based on Amendment 706 to the Sentencing Guidelines. The district court — which had originally sentenced Akbar at the bottom of his Guidelines range to 188 months in prison — resentenced him at the bottom of his recalculated Guidelines range to 151 months in prison. Akbar’s argument on appeal that the district court should be allowed to sentence him below the Guidelines range is foreclosed by this court’s precedent. See United States v. Starks, 551 F.3d 839, 841-43 (8th Cir.) (modification proceedings under § 3582(c)(2) are more narrow in scope than original sentencing proceedings; limitations on district court’s authority in applicable policy statement of U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10 are constitutional and enforceable), cert. denied, — U.S. --, 129 S.Ct. 2746, 174 L.Ed.2d 257 (2009); United States v. Snyder, 511 F.3d 813, 818 (8th Cir.) (one Eighth Circuit panel may not overrule another), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 128 S.Ct. 2947, 171 L.Ed.2d 874 (2008); see also United States v. Harris, 556 F.3d 887, 888 (8th Cir.2009) (per curiam) (appellant’s argument that district court had authority to sentence him below Guidelines range in § 3582(c)(2) sentencing is foreclosed by Starks), petition for cert, fried, (U.S. May 22, 2009) (No. 08-10701).

Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.

1 . The Honorable Ortrie D. Smith, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri.