United States v. Kenneth Dewayne Copeland

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Decided: July 2, 2021
• Docket: 20-12106
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 20-12106 Date Filed: 07/02/2021 Page: 1 of 2

[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________

No. 20-12106 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________

D.C. Docket No. 4:06-cr-00061-RH-MAF-1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

KENNETH DEWAYNE COPELAND, a.k.a. Kent D. Copeland,

Defendant-Appellant.

________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida ________________________

(July 2, 2021)

Before NEWSOM, BRANCH, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM: USCA11 Case: 20-12106 Date Filed: 07/02/2021 Page: 2 of 2

Kenneth Copeland appeals the district court’s denial of his motion for a

reduced sentence under Section 404 of the First Step Act of 2018, arguing that the

district court erred in concluding that he was ineligible for a sentence reduction

because his conviction under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C) was not a covered offense.1

Because Copeland’s claim is foreclosed by the Supreme Court’s recent decision in

Terry v. United States, __ S. Ct. __, 2021 WL 2405145, at *4–5 (June 14, 2021),

which held that § 841(b)(1)(c) is not a covered offense under the First Step Act, we

affirm.

AFFIRMED.

1 “When Congress enacted the First Step Act of 2018, it granted district courts discretion to reduce the sentences of crack-cocaine offenders [who were sentenced for a covered offense] in accordance with the amended penalties in the Fair Sentencing Act [of 2010].” United States v. Jones, 962 F.3d 1290, 1297 (11th Cir. 2020). 2