United States v. Devaron Holland

391 F. App'x 468
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedAugust 13, 2010
Docket09-1763
StatusUnpublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 391 F. App'x 468 (United States v. Devaron Holland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Devaron Holland, 391 F. App'x 468 (6th Cir. 2010).

Opinions

[469]*469BOGGS, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Devaron Holland appeals the district court’s denial of a sentence reduction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In 2002, Holland pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, resulting in his eighteenth criminal conviction. Although Holland was caught by Detroit police officers with over 400 grams of crack cocaine in his residence, his plea agreement held him accountable for only 142.1 grams. Holland was sentenced to 157 months of imprisonment, which was toward the lower end of the United States Sentencing Guidelines range of 151-188 months.

Thereafter, in November 2007, the United States Sentencing Commission amended the Guidelines to reduce the sentencing disparity between crack-cocaine and powder-cocaine offenses. See U.S.S.G. Supp. App. C, Arndt. 706 (effective Nov. 1, 2007). In early 2008, the Sentencing Commission declared this amendment to be retroactive. See U.S.S.G. Supp.App. C, Arndt. 713 (effective Mar. 3, 2008). Relying on these amendments, in April 2009, Holland filed a motion for reduced sentence pursuant to § 3582(c)(2). Anticipating the government’s objections, he argued that “he ha[d] already been held accountable for his past [criminal] record” when his initial Guidelines calculation was performed, and that the length of his record overrepresented his dangerousness “because [his] criminal record [did] not consist of any violent crimes.”

In response, the government conceded Holland’s eligibility for a sentence reduction but argued against any reduction because “the usual § 3553(a) factors ... militate against a sentence reduction.” In particular, the government pointed to Holland’s extensive criminal history; “his unwillingness to reform his conduct despite repeated convictions and periods of incarceration”; the “danger [he] posed to the community”; and the fact that his sentence “grossly] understate^]” the seriousness of his offense, as it reflected only a fraction of the total drug quantity with which Holland was associated.

The record before the district court included a “[U.S.S.G.] § 1B1.10 Report” prepared by the government in connection with the § 3582(c)(2) proceeding, as well as Holland’s pre-sentence report. The § 1B1.10 Report noted that Holland had been involved in six disciplinary incidents while incarcerated' (including “Assaulting Without Serious Injury” and two instances of “Fighting With Another Person”), and that his “institutional adjustment [was] rated as average.” The pre-sentence report indicated that Holland had a “positive childhood with a stable upbringing”; that none of his immediate family members had any criminal history, mental health, or substance abuse issues; and that he was generally in good physical and mental health.

The district court denied Holland’s motion via summary order without a hearing. In the order, the court correctly determined Holland’s amended Guideline range, then stated that Holland’s motion was denied “for the reasons set forth in the government’s brief.” Holland timely appealed.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A district court “has the discretion to deny a section 3582(c)(2) motion, even if [a] retroactive amendment has lowered the guideline range.” United States v. Ursery, 109 F.3d 1129, 1137 (6th Cir.1997). Accordingly, a district court’s decision to do so is reviewed only for abuse of discre[470]*470tion. United States v. Curry, 606 F.3d 323, 327 (6th Cir.2010). A district court abuses its discretion when it “relies on clearly erroneous findings of fact, improperly applies the law, or uses an erroneous legal standard.” United States v. Munoz, 605 F.3d 359, 366 (6th Cir.2010) (quoting United States v. Washington, 584 F.3d 693, 695 (6th Cir.2009)).

III. DISCUSSION

The bulk of Holland’s brief on appeal is devoted to his argument that the Guidelines “are advisory rather than mandatory in resentencings conducted under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2), as they are in initial sentencing proceedings.” Appellant’s Br. at 3. However, as Holland later conceded in his motion waiving oral argument, this proposition is now squarely foreclosed by the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dillon v. United States, — U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 2683, 177 L.Ed.2d 271 (2010), which held that the judicial alterations to the Sentencing Reform Act that were enunciated in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), do not apply in § 3582(c)(2) proceedings.1

Holland also argues that the district court made an error of law because it “completely] fail[ed to] ... consider[ ] the mandatory § 3553[ (a) ] factors” in reaching its decision. Appellant’s Br. at 17. As Holland notes, § 3582(c)(2) states that where a retroactive Guidelines amendment has occurred, “the court may reduce [a defendant’s] term of imprisonment, after considering the factors set forth in section 3553(a) to the extent that they are applicable, if such a reduction is consistent with applicable policy statements issued by the Sentencing Commission.” (emphasis added).

Holland is simply mistaken when he argues that the district-court “completely] fail[ed]” to consider the § 3553(a) factors “to the extent that they are applicable.” The district court’s order incorporated by reference “the reasons stated in the government’s brief,” which included Holland’s criminal history, see 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(1); his dangerousness to the public, see id. § 3 553(a)(2)(C); and the seriousness of his offense, see id. § 3553(a)(2)(A). The record does not suggest that any other “applicable” § 3553(a) factors weighed in Holland’s favor.

To the extent Holland argues that the district court committed legal error by incorporating the government’s brief by reference, rather than explicitly analyzing each of the § 3553(a) factors on the record, his argument must be rejected. A proceeding pursuant to § 3582(c)(2) is “not a plenary resentencing proceeding,” Dillon, 130 S.Ct. at 2691, and such proceedings therefore do not require the same degree of procedural formality as plenary sentencings. See Curry, 606 F.3d at 330-31. In fact, in Curry, we recently rejected a similar (if not identical) argument, reasoning as follows:

[T]he district court did not conduct a hearing on Curry’s motion, and did not expressly consider all the § 3553 factors that might have been relevant. Curry argues that the district court abused its discretion in denying the motion without either specifically articulating the reasons for doing so or identifying factors in Curry’s particular record that justified the denial. The only case Curry [471]

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391 F. App'x 468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-devaron-holland-ca6-2010.