United States v. Lopez

2008 DNH 159

• Court: District Court, D. New Hampshire
• Decided: August 27, 2008
• Docket: 01-CR-079-SM
• Status: Published

Opinion

United States v. Lopez 01-CR-079-SM 08/27/08 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

United States of America

v. Criminal No. 01-cr-79-l-SM Opinion No. 2008 DNH 159 Carlos Lopez

O R D E R

Defendant's motion to reduce his sentence, based on the

United States Sentencing Commission's retroactive amendment of

the "crack" cocaine guideline (Amendments 706 and 711), effective

March 3, 2008, is necessarily denied.

United States Guideline § lBl.l0(a)(2)(B) makes clear that a

reduction in a defendant's term of imprisonment is not authorized

under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) based on the "crack" cocaine

amendment, if the amendment would not have the effect of lowering

the defendant's applicable guideline range. Here, defendant's

guideline range was established by mandatory minimum sentences

prescribed by statute — 20 years (240 months) with respect to

Counts I through V, VII, and VIII, and 5 years (60 months) to be

served consecutively with respect to Count VI. The retroactive

"crack" cocaine amendment does not effectively lower the

applicable guideline range in defendant's case — which remains,

by statute, 240 months and 60 months to be served consecutively. Conclusion

The motion to reduce sentence (document no. 91) is denied.

SO ORDERED.

Sh'even J./McAuliffe (Chief Judge

August 27, 2 00 8

cc: Mark E. Howard, Esq. Aixa Maldonado-Quinones, Esq. Jeffrey S. Levin, Esq. U.S. Probation U.S. Marshal