United States v. Antwan Coplen

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: April 29, 2021
• Docket: 20-2654
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 20-2654 ___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Antwan Elvago Coplen

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Central ____________

Submitted: April 26, 2021 Filed: April 29, 2021 [Unpublished] ____________

Before COLLOTON, BENTON, and STRAS, Circuit Judges. ____________

PER CURIAM.

After considering a number of factors, the district court1 reduced Antwan Coplen’s life sentence to 360 months in prison under the First Step Act. See Pub. L.

1 The Honorable Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Iowa. No. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194 (2018). Though he challenges the decision on a host of grounds, we affirm.

We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it declined to reduce Coplen’s sentence even further. See United States v. Harris, 960 F.3d 1103, 1106 (8th Cir. 2020) (articulating the standard of review). Nor is a motion like this one the proper way to challenge aspects of his original sentencing. See United States v. Moore, 963 F.3d 725, 728 (8th Cir. 2020) (explaining how motions under the First Step Act are different from “original, plenary sentencing” proceedings); see also United States v. Denson, 963 F.3d 1080, 1089 (11th Cir. 2020) (refusing to entertain an attack on the original sentence in a sentence-reduction proceeding under the First Step Act).

We accordingly affirm the judgment of the district court, deny the pro se motion, and grant counsel permission to withdraw. ______________________________

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