United States v. Levence Simpson

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• Decided: October 24, 2008
• Docket: 08-2042
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1

United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Chicago, Illinois 60604 Submitted October 17, 2008∗ Decided October 24, 2008

Before

FRANK H. EASTERBROOK , Chief Judge

JOEL M. FLAUM , Circuit Judge

KENNETH F. RIPPLE , Circuit Judge

No. 08-2042 Appeal from the United UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, States District Court for the Plaintiff-Appellee, Central District of Illinois

v. No. 1:01-cr-10038-JBM-JAG-4 Joe Billy McDade, Judge. LE VENCE SIMPSON, Defendant-Appellant.

Order

After the Sentencing Commission reduced the guideline ranges for crack cocaine, and made the change retroactive, see Amendments 706 and 711, LeVence Simpson asked the district court to reduce his sentence. A judge is authorized to implement a retroactive change in the guidelines. See 18 U.S.C. §3582(c)(2).

The district court denied Simpson’s motion, observing that his sentence of 240

∗ This successive appeal has been submitted to the original panel under Operating Procedure 6(b). After examining the briefs and the record, we have concluded that oral argument is unnecessary. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a); Cir. R. 34(f). No. 08-2042 Page 2

months is the statutory minimum for his offense and criminal record. A change in guidelines does not entitle a court to disregard a statutory minimum sentence. Neal v. United States, 516 U.S. 284 (1996). Simpson’s appellate brief ignores this problem and relies entirely on decisions such as Kimbrough v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 558 (2007), that concern the Guidelines rather than statutes. No more need be said to show that the district court’s order is correct.

AFFIRMED