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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________
No. 19-13686 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________
D.C. Docket No. 8:97-cr-00344-JDW-AAS-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
JOHN LEE COLLINS, a.k.a. Block, Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida ________________________
(June 21, 2021)
Before JORDAN, ANDERSON, and JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Defendant John Lee Collins appeals the district court’s denial in part of his USCA11 Case: 19-13686 Date Filed: 06/21/2021 Page: 2 of 16
counseled motion for a sentence reduction under the First Step Act of 2018, Pub.
L. No. 115-391, § 404(b), 132 Stat. 5194, 5222 (“First Step Act”). Because the
district court reasonably concluded that a reduction to his 360-month prison
sentence was unwarranted, we affirm.
I. BACKGROUND In 1997, a federal grand jury indicted Defendant for distributing cocaine
base (“Count I”) and distributing heroin (“Count II”), both in violation of 21
U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Before trial, the Government filed an information under 21
U.S.C. § 851(a)(1) indicating that it intended to seek an enhanced punishment due
to Defendant’s prior felony conviction for cocaine possession. At a trial in March
1998, a jury convicted Defendant on both counts without making a drug-quantity
finding.
A probation officer prepared a presentence investigation report, which noted
that, because Defendant had a prior conviction for a felony drug offense, he faced
20 years’ to life imprisonment and at least ten years’ supervised release for
Count I, under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A),1 and a 30-year maximum prison term and
at least six years of supervised release for Count II, under 21 U.S.C.
§ 841(b)(1)(C). The probation officer stated that Defendant’s offense conduct
1 At the time, § 841(b)(1)(A) provided the penalties for an offense involving 50 grams or more of crack cocaine. 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) (1996).
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involved selling 133 grams of crack cocaine and 27.8 grams of heroin to a
confidential informant. Converting these quantities into their marijuana
equivalents, the probation officer concluded that Defendant was accountable for
2,687.8 kilograms of marijuana, which resulted in a base offense level of 32 under
U.S.S.G § 2D1.1(c)(4). Because Defendant had sustained at least two prior felony
convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense,
however, Defendant qualified as a career offender under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1. 2 As a
career offender facing a statutory maximum of life in prison, Defendant’s total
offense level under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1 was 37. Turning to Defendant’s criminal
history, the probation officer concluded that Defendant had a criminal-history
category of VI for two independent reasons: (1) Defendant had 13 or more
criminal-history points, placing him in category VI under Chapter 5’s sentencing
table; and (2) Defendant qualified as a career offender under U.S.S.G.
§ 4B1.1. Based on a total offense level of 37 and a criminal-history category of
VI, Defendant’s guideline range was 360 months’ to life imprisonment, ten years’
supervised release for Count I, and six years’ supervised release for Count II.
2 The presentence investigation report stated that Defendant had three predicate convictions from Florida: burglary, robbery, and battery on a law enforcement officer.
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At sentencing in May 2000, Defendant offered no objections to the
presentence investigation report, and the court adopted its guideline calculations. 3
Sentencing Defendant at the low end of the guideline range, the court imposed
concurrent 360-month terms of imprisonment for Counts I and II, and concurrent
ten-year and six-year terms of supervised release for Counts I and II, respectively.
The court noted that the sentence was adequate and met the statutory purposes of
sentencing.
On direct appeal, Defendant argued among other things that the sentencing
court erred under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000) in sentencing him
based on a prior felony drug conviction and a quantity of drugs not alleged in the
indictment or proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. We rejected this
argument, concluding that the sentencing court did not plainly err because a prior
conviction need not be alleged in the indictment and proven to a jury, and
regardless of drug quantity Defendant was sentenced within 21 U.S.C.
§ 841(b)(1)(C)’s 30-year maximum prescribed for a person who commits a drug
offense after sustaining a prior conviction for a felony drug offense.4
3 The 1998 Sentencing Guidelines Manual was in effect at sentencing. Although the probation officer had prepared Defendant’s presentence investigation report using the 1997 Sentencing Guidelines Manual, amendments to the Guidelines did not affect Defendant’s guideline calculation. 4 Defendant’s prior felony drug offense was simple cocaine possession.
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In March 2019, Defendant filed a counseled motion to reduce his sentence
under the First Step Act. In an eligibility memorandum, the probation officer
reported that Defendant was eligible for a First Step Act sentence reduction
because retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, Pub. L. No.
111-220, §§ 2–3, 124 Stat 2372, 2372 (“Fair Sentencing Act”) reduced Count I’s
statutory minimum term of imprisonment from 20 to ten years, with a maximum of
life imprisonment, and its term of supervised release from ten years to eight years.
But because Defendant’s amended guideline range did not change, the probation
officer concluded that the First Step Act’s only effect was to reduce Count I’s term
of supervised release to eight years.
In his motion, Defendant requested a sentence reduction to time served
(approximately 264 months) and six years’ supervised release. Defendant argued
that his sentence was overly harsh, especially in light of the intervening changes in
the law since its imposition in 2000, including Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S.
466, 490 (2000) (holding that, “[o]ther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact
that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum
must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt”), Alleyne v.
United States, 570 U.S. 99, 103 (2013) (holding that “any fact that increases the
mandatory minimum is an ‘element’ that must be submitted to the jury”), United
States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 264–65 (2005) (rendering the Sentencing
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Guidelines advisory rather than mandatory), Kimbrough v. United States, 552 U.S.
85, 91 (2007) (holding that the sentencing court “may consider the disparity
between the Guidelines’ treatment of crack and powder cocaine offenses” in
determining whether a guideline sentence is appropriate), and §§ 2 and 3 of the
Fair Sentencing Act (reducing disparities in penalties for crack and powder cocaine
offenses). He argued that, if sentenced today, his statutory penalties could no
longer be enhanced under § 841 because the jury never made a drug-quantity
finding and his simple cocaine-possession conviction no longer qualified for a
§ 851 enhancement. 5 He further argued that, because his predicate convictions for
battery on a law enforcement officer and burglary would no longer count as crimes
of violence, the Guidelines’ career-offender enhancement no longer applied.
Given these changes in the law, Defendant contended that his guideline range
under the current Guidelines would be only 120 to 150 months’ imprisonment,
based on a total offense level of 26 and a criminal-history category of VI.
The Government did not oppose a reduction of Defendant’s supervised
release to eight years for Count I. But it opposed any reduction to his prison
sentence because the First Step Act lowered Defendant’s mandatory minimum
penalty for Count I without altering his guideline range or any other factor the
5 Section 851 provides that a defendant’s punishment may not be increased based on a prior conviction unless, before trial, the Government files an information identifying the conviction relied upon. 21 U.S.C. § 851(a)(1).
6 USCA11 Case: 19-13686 Date Filed: 06/21/2021 Page: 7 of 16
court had considered at sentencing. The Government acknowledged that, if
Defendant received a fresh sentencing today, his prior felony conviction for
cocaine possession would no longer qualify for a § 851 enhancement, and his prior
convictions for burglary and battery on a law enforcement officer would no longer
qualify for a career-offender enhancement. Accordingly, the Government stated
that his revised guideline range would be 210 to 262 months’ imprisonment, based
on a total offense level of 32 and a criminal-history category of VI. 6 Nevertheless,
the Government maintained that the First Step Act did not authorize a plenary
resentencing.
The district court denied Defendant’s motion, except that it reduced his term
of supervised release on Count I to eight years. The court concluded that, although
Defendant was eligible for a sentence reduction under the First Step Act because
the Fair Sentencing Act had lowered his minimum prison sentence on Count I, a
sentence reduction was unwarranted because “the minimum penalty had no bearing
on his sentence” as to Count I. The court further noted that the First Step Act did
not change the penalty for Count II and that Defendant’s guideline range remained
the same. “Regardless,” the court concluded, a sentence reduction was
6 While Defendant and the Government did not spell out how they arrived at their revised total- offense-level calculations, it appears that they calculated different total offense levels because Defendant used the drug-conversion table from the current Guidelines whereas the Government used the drug-equivalency table from the 1998 Guidelines, which were in effect at Defendant’s original sentencing.
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unwarranted in light of the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, “particularly the
seriousness of the offenses, and the need to promote respect for the law and
deterrence.” Although the Government had conceded that, if sentenced today,
Defendant would not qualify as a career offender or be subject to a § 851
enhancement based on his prior cocaine-possession conviction, the court declined
to consider changes in the law other than retroactive application of the Fair
Sentencing Act because the First Step Act did not authorize it to revisit such issues.
Defendant appealed the partial denial of his motion.
II. DISCUSSION
On appeal, Defendant argues that the district court abused its discretion in
denying a reduction of his prison sentence under the First Step Act because the
court (1) applied the wrong penalty provision under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530
U.S. 466 (2000), (2) miscalculated the revised guideline range, and (3) failed to
afford consideration to relevant § 3553(a) factors. We review a district court’s
authority to reduce a sentence under the First Step Act de novo and its decision not
to reduce an eligible defendant’s sentence for an abuse of discretion. United States
v. Jones, 962 F.3d 1290, 1296 (11th Cir. 2020). Because the district court
reasonably concluded that a sentence reduction was unwarranted and our recent
precedents foreclose Defendant’s arguments on appeal, we affirm.
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In 2000, when Defendant was sentenced, “the statutory penalties for drug-
trafficking offenses involving crack cocaine were the same as the statutory
penalties for drug-trafficking offenses involving 100 times as much powder
cocaine.” Id. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 amended the penalties for crack-
cocaine offenses, increasing the quantity of crack cocaine necessary to trigger the
higher penalties in 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) and (B)(iii) for defendants
sentenced on or after the Act’s effective date. Id. at 1297.
“When Congress enacted the First Step Act of 2018, it granted district courts
discretion to reduce the sentences of crack-cocaine offenders in accordance with
the amended penalties in the Fair Sentencing Act.” Id. Under the First Step Act, a
district court that has “imposed a sentence for a covered offense may . . . impose a
reduced sentence as if sections 2 and 3 of the Fair Sentencing Act . . . were in
effect at the time the covered offense was committed.” First Step Act § 404(b).
In Jones, we established a two-part framework for determining whether a
defendant is eligible for a sentence reduction under § 404(b) of the First Step Act.
United States v. Russell, 994 F.3d 1230, 1238 (11th Cir. 2021). First, a court must
determine whether the defendant was sentenced for a “covered offense.” Jones,
962 F.3d at 1303. A “covered offense” is defined as “a violation of a Federal
criminal statute, the statutory penalties for which were modified by section 2 or 3
of the Fair Sentencing Act . . . that was committed before August 3, 2010.” First
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Step Act § 404(a). Thus, a defendant “has a ‘covered offense’ if his offense
triggered a statutory penalty that has since been modified by the Fair Sentencing
Act.” Jones, 962 F.3d at 1298. Second, because a court may reduce a sentence
only “as if” §§ 2 and 3 of the Fair Sentencing Act were in effect when the
defendant committed the covered offense, the court must determine whether the
defendant “received the lowest statutory penalty that also would be available to
him under the Fair Sentencing Act.” Id. at 1303. “If the [defendant’s] sentence
would have necessarily remained the same had the Fair Sentencing Act been in
effect, then the district court lacks the authority to reduce the [defendant’s]
sentence.” Id.
Here, there is no dispute that Defendant was eligible for a sentence reduction
on Count I under Jones’s two-part framework. First, Defendant’s conviction for
distributing crack cocaine qualified as a “covered offense.” First Step Act
§ 404(a). Because the sentencing court found that Defendant had distributed 133
grams of crack cocaine, his offense fell under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(iii), which
carried a 20-year minimum penalty for distributing 50 grams or more of cocaine
base after sustaining a prior conviction for a felony drug offense. 21 U.S.C.
§ 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) (1996). Under the Fair Sentencing Act, however, the same
offense would have fallen under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(iii)’s penalty provision
for distributing 28 grams or more of cocaine base, with a minimum prison sentence
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of only ten years. 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(iii) (2010). Because Defendant’s
offense triggered a statutory penalty modified by the Fair Sentencing Act, it was a
“covered offense.” Jones, 962 F.3d at 1298. Second, Defendant was not
sentenced “as if” the Fair Sentencing Act had been in effect when he committed
the offense because his sentence (30 years) was higher than the lowest statutory
penalty available under the Fair Sentencing Act (ten years). First Step Act
§ 404(b); see Jones, 962 F.3d at 1303. The district court, therefore, correctly
determined that Defendant was eligible for a sentence reduction as to Count I
under the First Step Act.
But although the district court had authority to reduce Defendant’s sentence,
“it was not required to do so” and “had wide latitude in deciding whether to
exercise its discretion.” Russell, 994 F.3d at 1238–39 (quotation marks omitted).
In ruling on Defendant’s motion, the court was merely required to give “reasoned
consideration” to Defendant’s arguments and “adequately explain its discretionary
determination in order to allow for meaningful appellate review.” United States v.
Stevens, 997 F.3d 1307, 1318 (11th Cir. 2021). It did just that, explaining that a
reduction to Defendant’s prison sentence was unwarranted because (1) Count I’s
20-year minimum penalty had no bearing on his original sentence, which was
based on the 360-month-to-life guideline range, (2) the First Step Act did not
change his guideline range, and (3) in any event, the seriousness of the offense and
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the need to promote respect for the law and deterrence warranted a 360-month
sentence.
Although Defendant challenges the district court’s ruling on several
grounds, our recent precedents decided after the parties briefed this case foreclose
his arguments. First, he argues that, in determining his statutory range under the
First Step Act, the district court failed to take into account an Apprendi error,
namely, the fact that he was not charged with, and a jury did not find, a specific
drug quantity. Absent a drug quantity, Defendant argues that the court should have
applied 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C), which provides for a statutory maximum of 30
years’ imprisonment for a person who sold crack cocaine after sustaining a
conviction for a felony drug offense, rather than 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B), which
provides for a statutory range of ten years’ to life imprisonment for such a person
who has sold 28 grams or more of crack cocaine. 7
After the parties briefed this case, however, we held in Jones that a
defendant “cannot rely on Apprendi to redefine his offense for purposes of
a First Step Act motion.” Jones, 962 F.3d at 1302. Accordingly, Defendant’s
argument is now foreclosed. “Under Jones, if a [defendant] was sentenced before
7 These statutory ranges are relevant in calculating Defendant’s offense level under the Sentencing Guidelines. A career offender with a 30-year maximum prison sentence has an offense level of 34, whereas a career offender facing up to life imprisonment has an offense level of 37. U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1.
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the Supreme Court’s decision in Apprendi, the court generally can look to a drug-
quantity finding made by the sentencing judge because that determination was used
to set the [defendant’s] statutory penalty range.” Russell, 994 F.3d at 1237 n.7.
That is what the district court did here. The presentence investigation report’s
unobjected-to statement that Defendant had sold 133 grams of crack cocaine
determined Defendant’s statutory penalty range when he was originally sentenced.
Thus, the district court correctly determined that, under the First Step Act,
Defendant’s offense now fell under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B), the penalty
provision for an offense involving 28 grams or more of crack cocaine. Because
Defendant had a prior conviction for a felony drug offense, his statutory range was
ten years to life, as the district court correctly found. 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B).
Defendant next faults the district court for declining to reconsider his status
as a career offender when determining that a reduction to the statutory minimum
for Count I did not affect his guideline range. 8 Defendant contends that, because
the First Step Act states that a court may “impose” a reduced sentence rather than
“modify” a sentence, the court was required to consider the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)
factors anew, including the Sentencing Guidelines in effect during the First Step
Act proceeding. In effect, Defendant contends that the First Step Act entitled him
8 As noted above, the Government conceded below that Defendant would not qualify as a career offender if sentenced today because two of his three prior felony convictions no longer constitute crimes of violence.
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to a fresh sentencing hearing, with all the benefits of changes in the law that have
accrued since his original sentencing.
We have since clarified, however, that “the First Step Act does not authorize
the district court to conduct a plenary or de novo resentencing.” United States v.
Taylor, 982 F.3d 1295, 1302 (11th Cir. 2020) (quoting United States v. Denson,
963 F.3d 1080, 1089 (11th Cir. 2020)). “The authority to reduce [a defendant’s]
sentence as if sections 2 and 3 of the Fair Sentencing Act were in effect when [the
defendant] committed his offense does not permit the court to reduce [the
defendant’s] sentence on the covered offense based on changes in the law beyond
those mandated by those sections.” Id. (quotation marks omitted). Moreover, the
district court “is not free to change the defendant’s original guidelines calculations
that are unaffected by sections 2 and 3 [of the Fair Sentencing Act].” Denson, 963
F.3d at 1089.
Here, the district court did not err in concluding that Defendant’s guideline
range remained unchanged under the First Step Act. The court lacked authority
under the First Step Act to revisit Defendant’s career-offender designation because
§§ 2 and 3 of the Fair Sentencing Act had no bearing on whether his prior felony
convictions qualified as crimes of violence or controlled substance offenses under
U.S.S.G § 4B1.1. Id. The Fair Sentencing Act merely reduced Count I’s statutory
minimum penalties. See Fair Sentencing Act §§ 2–3. Further, the statutory
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minimums did not factor into the guideline range. Rather, as a career offender,
Defendant’s guideline range was driven by Count I’s statutory maximum of life
imprisonment, which resulted in a total offense level of 37. 9 U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1.
Retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act did not change the statutory
maximum for Defendant’s offense. The First Step Act therefore had no effect on
Defendant’s guideline range—a prison sentence of 360 months to life.
Finally, Defendant asserts that the the district court abused its discretion by
failing to afford consideration to relevant § 3553(a) factors. Defendant, however,
does not identify any such relevant factors, aside from the purported changes to his
guideline range discussed above. In any event, we have since clarified that the
First Step Act “does not mandate consideration of the § 3553(a) sentencing
factors,” although the court “may consider the § 3553(a) factors, as well as the
probation office’s submissions, post-sentence rehabilitation, post-imprisonment
rehabilitation, or any other relevant facts and circumstances.” Stevens, 997 F.3d at
1316, 1318 (emphasis added). The court need only explain its determination in a
manner that permits meaningful appellate review. Id. at 1318. Here, the court did
so, explaining that, although Defendant was eligible for a reduction to his prison
sentence because retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act lowered his
9 Defendant does not contend that the First Step Act changed his criminal-history category of VI, which remained the same because he had more than 13 criminal-history points. U.S.S.G. Ch.5, Pt.A, Sentencing Table.
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statutory minimum, a reduction was unwarranted because the statutory minimum
had no bearing on his sentence, the First Step Act did not change his guideline
range, and the § 3553(a) factors, including the seriousness of the offense and the
need for deterrence, justified a 360-month prison sentence for Count I. We discern
no abuse of discretion in that determination. 10
III. CONCLUSION The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Defendant’s motion
for a reduction of his prison sentence under the First Step Act. We therefore affirm
the decision below.
AFFIRMED.
10 As noted above, the district court granted a reduction of Defendant’s term of supervised release on Count I to eight years. We do not address that determination because it is unchallenged on appeal.