United States v. Quintanilla

868 F.3d 315
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedAugust 16, 2017
DocketNo. 16-50677 Cons w/ Nos. 16-50682, 16-50683, 16-50687, 16-50688, 16-50689, 16-50690, 16-50691, 16-50694, 16-50700, 16-50704, 16-50705, 16-50706, 16-50707, 16-50709, 16-50715, 16-50716
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 868 F.3d 315 (United States v. Quintanilla) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth 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. Quintanilla, 868 F.3d 315 (5th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Before the Court are seventeen consolidated criminal appeals presenting essentially the same, questipn of law: whether each defendant is entitled to a two-level reduction to offense leyel under Amendment 782 to the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which permits such a reduction for sentences based on the drug, quantity under U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, when the original sentence in each case was calculated starting from the higher guideline range for career offenders under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1. As explained further below, 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) authorizes a district court to modify a sentence “in the case of a defendant who has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment based on a sentencing range that has subsequently been lowered by the Sentencing Commission....” Because we hold that the sentences in these appeals were not “based on” § 2Dl.l’s drug quantity range but rather on § 4Bl.l’s higher career offender guideline range, the district court was without authority as a matter of law to modify the sentences, and the judgments of the district court must be REVERSED.

I. Background

Not only do all seventeen appeals pres[318]*318ent the same issue of law,1 but the relevant facts and applicable law are the same in all material respects. The relevant facts are as follows: Each defendant was convicted of a drug crime, which resulted in a guideline range under § 2D1.1 based on the drug quantity. Each defendant also qualified as a career offender, resulting in a guideline range under § 4B1.1 based on that status. In each case, the § 4B1.1 career offender guideline range was higher than the § 2D1.1 drug quantity range.

Under § 4Bl.l(b), “if the offense level for a career offender from the table in this [career offender] subsection is greater than the offense level otherwise applicable, the offense level from the table in this subsection shall apply.” Thus, the higher § 4B1.1 guideline range was the required starting range for each defendant. The district court at each original sentencing in fact applied the higher § 4B1.1 guideline range. From that range, the district court applied various reductions that are not at issue in these cases. The final sentence was typically somewhere between the starting § 4B1.1 range and the lower § 2D1.1 range, though in some cases the final sentence, after all appropriate reductions, was within or even lower than the original § 2D1.1 range.2 Of course, if the court had started at the § 2D1.1 range and applied all of those reductions, the sentence would have been lower still.

After the original sentencings, the Sentencing Commission enacted Amendment 782, effective November 1, 2014 and retroactive to earlier sentences, which amended § 2D1.1 to allow a two-level reduction to offense level based on the drug quantity.3 The amendment affects § 2D1.1 and a few other minor sections tied to § 2D1.1, but it does not change § 4B1.1 in any way. In Amendment 782’s “Reason for Amendment” section, the Sentencing Commission stated that “existing statutory enhancements, such as those available under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), and guideline enhancements for offenders who possess firearms, use violence, have an aggravating role in the offense, or are repeat or career offenders, ensure that the most dangerous or serious offenders will continue to receive appropriately severe sentences.”4

Under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2), a district court has authority to modify a sentence “in the case of a defendant who has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment based on a sentencing range that has subsequently been lowered by the Sentencing Commission....” Under U.S.S.G. § lB1.10(a)(l):

In a case in which a defendant is serving a term of imprisonment, and the guideline range applicable to that defendant has subsequently been lowered as a result of an amendment to the Guidelines Manual listed in subsection (d) below [NB: subsection (d) includes Amendment 782], the court may reduce the defendant’s term of imprisonment as provided by 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2). As required by 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2), any such reduction in the defendant’s term of im[319]*319prisonment shall be consistent with this policy statement.5

Each of the defendants applied for and received a two-level reduction under Amendment 782. In its virtually identical orders granting the defendants’ motions to reduce the sentence, the district court:

[found] that Movant [was] eligible for a reduction of his sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) because his original sentence was “based on” the amended guideline § 2D1.1.... See § 3582(c)(2); see also [Freeman v. United States, 564 U.S. 522, 131 S.Ct. 2685, 2695, 180 L.Ed.2d 519 (2011) ] (allowing a § 3582(c)(2) reduction with a Rule 11(c)(1)(C) plea agreement if agreed sentence was based on the guidelines).... In the instant case, Movant’s sentence was “based on” the drug guideline range.... Just like when the parties to an 11(c)(1)(C) binding plea agreement may choose a downward departure tied to a drug guideline range, a judge may depart to a sentence otherwise tied to the initial drug guideline range. The sentence would still be “based on” the drug guideline range under Freeman.

The district court also cited United States v. Jackson, 678 F.3d 442, 445 (6th Cir. 2012), for the proposition that a sentence is “based on” § 2D1.1 if the district court clearly considered the lower drug quantity guidelines in downwardly departing from a higher applicable guideline range. Using this definition, the district court not only found that each defendant’s sentence was “based on” the § 2D1.1 drug quantity range, but that each defendant was in fact entitled to a two-level reduction.

The government timely appealed each case on the ground that each defendant’s original sentence was based on the career offender guideline range in § 4B1.1, not the lower drug quantity guideline range in § 2D1.1.

II. Jurisdiction and Standard of Review

We have appellate jurisdiction to review the district court’s sentence modification under 18 U.S.C. § 3731. “[W]e review the decision whether to reduce a sentence under § 3582(c)(2) for abuse of discretion, its interpretation of the guidelines de novo, and its findings of fact for clear error.”6 “ ‘A district court abuses its discretion if it bases its decision on an error of law or a clearly erroneous assessment of the evidence.’ ”7

III. Analysis

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
868 F.3d 315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-quintanilla-ca5-2017.