United States v. Crews

385 F. Supp. 3d 439
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 23, 2019
DocketCriminal Action No. 06-418
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 385 F. Supp. 3d 439 (United States v. Crews) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Crews, 385 F. Supp. 3d 439 (W.D. Pa. 2019).

Opinion

Joy Flowers Conti, Senior United States District Court Judge

I. Introduction

Pending before the court is a motion for reduction of sentence pursuant to the First Step Act of 2018 (the "First Step Act"), Pub. L. No. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194 (ECF No. 318) filed by defendant Dewayne Crews ("Crews" or "defendant"). For the reasons set forth in this opinion, the motion for reduction will be granted in part and denied in part. Crews is entitled to seek relief under the First Step Act because the court did not originally sentence him in accordance with the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (the "Fair Sentencing Act"), Pub. L. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372. The court will reduce Crews' term of supervised release, but declines to reduce his term of imprisonment.

II. Background

On December 5, 2006, Crews was charged in a one-count indictment with possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base on or about August 31, 2006, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A)(iii). (ECF No. 1.) On February 16, 2010, a jury trial commenced against Crews with respect to the charges contained in the indictment. On February 22, 2010, a jury found Crews guilty as charged in the indictment. (ECF No. 194.)

On August 3, 2010, Congress enacted the Fair Sentencing Act and it was signed into federal law. The Fair Sentencing Act reduced penalties for crack cocaine offenses and directed the United States Sentencing Commission to review and within ninety days amend the advisory sentencing guidelines to account for the reductions. On November 1, 2010, the relevant amendments to the guidelines became effective. For example, under the statutory amendments, the mandatory minimum sentence to which Crews was subject would be lowered from ten years to five years and under the amendments to the guidelines the advisory guideline range for his term of imprisonment would be lowered from 360 months to life, to 262 months to 327 months.

On November 16, 2010, this court held a sentencing hearing with respect to Crews. Crews argued the court should apply to him the Fair Sentencing Act statutory and guideline amendments because he was being sentenced after November 1, 2010. The court continued the hearing for the parties to file supplemental briefing to address whether the Fair Sentencing Act amendments should retroactively apply to him. The parties in their supplemental briefing also addressed whether the crime of resisting arrest of which Crews was previously convicted under Pennsylvania law was a crime of violence for purposes of the career offender statute.

On December 13, 2010, the court held the continued sentencing hearing. (H.T. 12/13/2010 (ECF No. 279).) The court explained that under United States v. Jacobs, 919 F.2d 10 (3d Cir. 1990), the statutory penalties in effect at the time Crews committed the offense of which he was convicted were applicable. (Id. at 3-6.) In other words, the Fair Sentencing Act statutory *441amendments did not apply to him. The court also held that Crews' conviction of resisting arrest under Pennsylvania law constituted a crime of violence for purposes of the career offender statute. (Id. at 14.)

The court, however, granted Crews a departure under United States Sentencing Guideline 4A1.3(b)(1) because his criminal history category of VI "substantially over-represent[ed] the seriousness of the defendant's criminal history or the likelihood that the defendant ... [would] commit other crimes." U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3(b)(1) ; (H.T. 12/13/2010 (ECF No. 279) at 24-25.) The court's findings with respect to the statutory penalties and applicable guidelines were, in pertinent part, as follows:

1) the base offense level was 30;
2) Crews was a career offender because he had at least two prior convictions for crimes of violence;
3) Crews' total adjusted offense level was 37;
4) Crews' career offender status resulted in a criminal history category of VI;
5) the court departed from the guidelines under § 4A1.3(b)(1) and assigned Crews a criminal history category of V;
6) the statutory minimum term of imprisonment was ten years and the statutory maximum term of imprisonment was life;
7) the applicable guideline range for imprisonment in light of the departure in criminal history score was 324 months to 405 months;1
8) the statutory minimum term of supervised release and the applicable guideline term of supervised release was five years;
9) the statutory maximum fine to be imposed was $4,000,000.00; and
10) the applicable guideline fine range was $17,500.00 to $4,000,000.00.

(H.T. 12/13/2010 (ECF No. 279) at 23-26.)

The court imposed upon Crews a sentence of a term of imprisonment of 188 months, a term of supervised release of five years, with all conditions listed, and a special assessment of $100. (ECF No. 273.) The court explained that it determined Crews' sentence by considering all the factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).2 For example, with respect to the nature of the offense, the court explained:

The offense involved crack cocaine. Congress has recently reduced the statutory penalties for the crack cocaine. If that reduction in the career offender Guideline range would have been in effect, your range would have been...two hundred thirty-five [months] to two hundred ninety-three moths. And if the Court were to go to [the] one-to-one [ratio], it would be one hundred eighty-eight [months] to two hundred thirty-five months.

(H.T. 12/13/2010 (ECF No. 279) at 38.) The court recognized that the offense was a "very serious drug offense" and warranted a lengthy period of incarceration. (Id. at 41.) The court explained that in light of *442Crews' background, e.g., his mother was a drug addict and his father was absent from his life and other matters, it applied the one-to-one drug ratio to his guideline calculation. (Id. at 40.) The court summarized its reasons for granting Crews a "significant variance" as follows:

One is looking at the crack disparity, the Fair Sentencing Act, and, also, your history and your characteristics in terms of your upbringing.

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Bluebook (online)
385 F. Supp. 3d 439, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-crews-pawd-2019.