United States v. Robert Sawyer

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Decided: April 24, 2026
• Docket: 25-12555
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

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NOT FOR PUBLICATION

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 25-12555 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus

ROBERT LEE SAWYER, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 5:98-cr-00067-TES-CHW-1 ____________________

Before NEWSOM, LAGOA, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Robert Sawyer appeals the district court’s denial of his mo- tion for compassionate release, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. USCA11 Case: 25-12555 Document: 28-1 Date Filed: 04/24/2026 Page: 2 of 10

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§ 3582(c)(1)(A). For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the dis- trict court’s order and conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY 1. Middle District of Georgia Conviction and Sentence On July 16, 1998, a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Georgia indicted Sawyer for (1) possession with intent to distrib- ute cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Count 1) and (2) possession of a firearm by a con- victed felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g), 924(a), and 924(e) (Count 2). On February 16, 1999, the district court in the Middle Dis- trict of Georgia sentenced Sawyer to 240 months’ imprisonment, followed by 5 years of supervised release (“Georgia sentence”). The district court then remanded Sawyer into the custody of the U.S. Marshals. In 2020, the district court in the Middle District of Georgia reduced Sawyer’s sentence to 235 months’ imprisonment, pursu- ant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) and Sentencing Guidelines Amend- ment 782. 2. Southern District of Florida Sentence Prior to Sawyer’s indictment in the Middle District of Geor- gia, on April 9, 1998, a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida indicted Sawyer for one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon on or about March 7, 1997, in violation of 18 USCA11 Case: 25-12555 Document: 28-1 Date Filed: 04/24/2026 Page: 3 of 10

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U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). An arrest warrant for Sawyer was issued the same day, but was not executed until March 16, 1999, a month after his Middle District of Georgia conviction. Sawyer initially pled not guilty but later changed his plea to guilty pursuant to a plea agree- ment. On August 18, 1999, the district court in the Southern Dis- trict of Florida sentenced Sawyer to 180 months to run consecu- tively with his Georgia sentence, followed by 5 years of supervised release (“Florida sentence”). The district court then in the South- ern District of Florida remanded Sawyer into the custody of the U.S. Marshals. Sawyer was delivered to the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 9, 1999. 3. Motion for Compassionate Release Of relevance to this appeal, on May 28, 2025, Sawyer filed the instant motion for compassionate release in the Middle District of Georgia, in which he stated that he had completed his 180- month Florida sentence and was presently serving the remainder of his Georgia sentence. He requested a 37-month reduction to his sentence under the amended 2023 version of U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13(b)(5). He asserted that he had put himself at imminent risk by assisting law enforcement with investigating and prosecut- ing dangerous criminals for over two decades, which ultimately led to the convictions of 3 men and helping police solve “13 murders and 34 attempted murders.” Sawyer stated that he had never con- ditioned his help on receiving any benefits and therefore, his ac- tions can be seen as heroic acts while imprisoned, rather than USCA11 Case: 25-12555 Document: 28-1 Date Filed: 04/24/2026 Page: 4 of 10

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self-interested assistance. He also cited his advanced age, stating that, without a reduction, he would be nearly 62 years old upon release, and noted the associated reduced risk of recidivism. Saw- yer stated that his sentence exceeded those of comparable offend- ers and that his guilty plea was “an unknowing waiver of his jury right,” as it occurred before the Supreme Court’s decisions in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), and Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. 99 (2013). Lastly, he argued that, while he was in prison, he had completed extensive programming that assisted in his rehabilitation and prepared him for successful reentry into soci- ety. Along with his motion, Sawyer included, in relevant part, his sentence monitoring computation data sheet as of August 12, 2024, which listed February 16, 1999, as “Date Computation Began,” and credited him with 253 days of prior jail credit time, from June 8, 1998, through February 15, 1999. The government responded in opposition to Sawyer’s mo- tion, arguing that, because his Georgia sentence ended no later than February 2019 and sentence reduction motions under § 3582(c)(1)(A) must be brought in the sentencing court, he needed to pursue his motion in the Southern District of Florida. Thus, the government argued that there was no remaining sentence for the Georgia district court to reduce as Sawyer only remained in prison under a separate, consecutive sentence imposed by another court. The district court in the Middle District of Georgia denied Sawyer’s motion after determining that the authority to reduce a sentence under § 3593(c)(1)(A) lies with the sentencing court and USCA11 Case: 25-12555 Document: 28-1 Date Filed: 04/24/2026 Page: 5 of 10

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that because Sawyer was presently serving a sentence imposed by the Southern District of Florida and had fully served the sentence imposed by the Middle District of Georgia, there remained no prison sentence for the court to reduce under § 3582(c)(1)(A). This appeal ensued. II. STANDARDS OF REVIEW We review whether a prisoner is eligible for a sentence re- duction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) de novo. United States v. Giron, 15 F.4th 1343, 1345 (11th Cir. 2021). We then review “a dis- trict court’s denial of a prisoner’s § 3582(c)(1)(A) motion for abuse of discretion.” Id. III. ANALYSIS On appeal, Sawyer argues that the district court in the Mid- dle District of Georgia erred in denying his motion because his Southern District of Florida sentence commenced first, and there- fore he is currently serving his Middle District of Georgia sentence, giving the Georgia district court the authority to reduce it. “Generally, a district court may not modify a term of impris- onment once imposed . . . .” United States v. Moreno, 421 F.3d 1217, 1219 (11th Cir. 2005). However, a defendant may move for com- passionate release under § 3582(c)(1)(A). 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). A district court may grant compassionate release if (1) an extraor- dinary and compelling reason exists; (2) a sentencing reduction would be consistent with U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13; and (3) the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors weigh in favor of compassionate release. United USCA11 Case: 25-12555 Document: 28-1 Date Filed: 04/24/2026 Page: 6 of 10

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States v. Tinker, 14 F.4th 1234, 1237-38 (11th Cir. 2021); 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). When the district court finds that one of these three prongs is not met, it need not examine the other prongs. Gi- ron, 15 F.4th at 1348-50. Upon a defendant’s § 3582(c)(1)(A) mo- tion, a court “may reduce a term of imprisonment (and may im- pose a term of supervised release with or without conditions that does not exceed the unserved portion of the original term of im- prisonment).” U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13(a). The computation of a federal sentence is governed by 18 U.S.C. § 3585. A federal sentence commences “on the date the defendant is received in custody awaiting transportation to, or ar- rives voluntarily to commence service of sentence at, the official detention facility at which the sentence is to be served.” 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a). Section 3585(b) provides that a defendant “shall be given credit toward the service of a term of imprisonment for any time he has spent in official detention prior to the date the sentence com- mences” as a result of (1) the offense for which the sentence was imposed; or (2) any other charge for which he was arrested after the commission of that offense. Id. § 3585(b). However, “[a]uthor- ity to calculate credit for time served under section 3585(b) is vested in the Attorney General, not the sentencing court.” United States v. Alexander, 609 F.3d 1250, 1259 (11th Cir. 2010). The Attor- ney General has delegated this authority to the Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”). See United States v. Lucas, 898 F.2d 1554, 1555 (11th Cir. 1990). Moreover, pursuant to the BOP’s Sentence Computation Manual, which interprets 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a), a federal sentence commences on the date of imposition if at the time of sentencing USCA11 Case: 25-12555 Document: 28-1 Date Filed: 04/24/2026 Page: 7 of 10

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(1) the prisoner is not serving any other federal sentence and (2) he is in exclusive federal custody (not under the jurisdiction of a fed- eral writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum). FED. BUREAU OF PRISONS, Sentence Computation Manual—Comprehensive Crime Con- trol Act of 1984, Program Statement 5880.28 1-12 (1994). In United States v. Llewlyn, 879 F.3d 1291, 1293 (11th Cir. 2018), the district court in the Southern District of Florida denied Llewlyn’s § 3582(c)(2) motion to reduce his 110-month Florida sen- tence on the basis that at the time of filing in 2014, he had already completed his Florida sentence and was now serving a 360-month consecutive sentence imposed in the Western District of North Carolina. Llewlyn filed a motion for reconsideration, arguing that his consecutive sentences should be considered in the aggregate for the purposes of his § 3582(c)(2) motion, which the district court de- nied. Id. We affirmed the denial and concluded that Llewlyn was ineligible for a sentence reduction because he had already served the entirety of his Florida sentence. Id. at 1295, 1298. We con- cluded that Llewlyn had begun serving his Florida sentence first because it was imposed in September 2000, “when no other federal sentence existed,” and his North Carolina sentence was imposed in July 2001, meaning he had completed his Florida sentence by 2014. Id. at 1295. We pointed out that the second sentencing judge “ex- plicitly directed that Llewlyn serve the 360-month term consecu- tively to any previously-imposed sentence” and rejected his argu- ment that “term” in U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10 meant “aggregate term,” holding that this interpretation “would render the concept of ‘con- secutive sentences’ imposed at different times meaningless.” Id. USCA11 Case: 25-12555 Document: 28-1 Date Filed: 04/24/2026 Page: 8 of 10

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We stated that there was no practical reason to combine Llewlyn’s sentences because he “was sentenced in different courts, at differ- ent times, and for unrelated crimes.” Id. at 1297-98. As noted supra, Sawyer argues that his Georgia sentence did not begin until he completed his Florida sentence and that his time in federal custody awaiting his Florida sentencing was not served as part of his Georgia sentence. The facts, however, do not support this argument. First, Sawyer’s Georgia sentence began on February 16, 1999, the day it was imposed, because on that day, he was re- manded into the custody of the U.S. Marshals, he was not serving any other federal sentence at the time, and he was in exclusive fed- eral custody. Sentence Computation Manual—CCCA of 1984, Program Statement 5880.28 at 1-12; 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a); see Llewlyn, 879 F.3d at 1295. Second, Sawyer’s Florida judgment stated that the sentence must run consecutively with his Georgia sentence, further demon- strating that his Georgia sentence commenced first. Third, according to the BOP’s sentence computation sheet, Sawyer received “jail credit” from June 8, 1998, through Febru- ary 15, 1999, the day before his Georgia sentence was imposed. Be- cause § 3585(b) dictates that this credit be awarded for time spent in official detention prior to the date the sentence commences, the lack of “jail credit” for the time Sawyer spent awaiting his Florida sentencing indicates that his Georgia sentence had commenced on USCA11 Case: 25-12555 Document: 28-1 Date Filed: 04/24/2026 Page: 9 of 10

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February 16, 1999, thus no longer entitling him to credit for prior custody. 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b). Sawyer also attempts to distinguish the government’s reli- ance on Llewlyn and argues that, even if his Georgia sentenced com- menced first, the Georgia district court retains the authority to re- duce his overall time in detention. We are not persuaded. Alt- hough Sawyer is correct that Llewlyn involved a sentence reduction motion under § 3582(c)(2), not § 3582(c)(1)(A), in Llewlyn, this Court confirmed that the defendant’s Florida sentence began first because it was imposed first and he was not serving another federal sentence at the time. 879 F.3d at 1295. This conclusion also applies to the sequencing of Sawyer’s sentences even if the impetus for the requested sentence reduction was different. Additionally, like Llewlyn, Sawyer’s sentences came from “different courts, at differ- ent times, and for unrelated crimes,” which the Llewlyn panel ex- plicitly refused to treat in the aggregate because it would render the concept of consecutive sentences “meaningless.” 879 F.3d at 1295, 1297-98. We thus conclude that the district court correctly deter- mined that it lacked authority to reduce Sawyer’s sentence be- cause, like the defendant in Llewlyn, Sawyer began serving his Georgia sentence on the day it was imposed and by the time he had filed his motion for compassionate release, he had completed that sentence, leaving nothing for the district court in the Middle Dis- trict of Georgia to reduce. IV. CONCLUSION USCA11 Case: 25-12555 Document: 28-1 Date Filed: 04/24/2026 Page: 10 of 10

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For the reasons stated, we affirm the district court’s denial of Sawyer’s motion for compassionate release. AFFIRMED.