U.S. v. Moore
| Citation | 541 F.3d 1323 |
| Decision Date | 05 September 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 08-11230.,No. 08-11526.,No. 08-11341.,No. 08-13132.,No. 08-11484.,08-11230.,08-11341.,08-11484.,08-11526.,08-13132. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gary MOORE, a.k.a. Nino, Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ralph Edward Wester, Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Theodora Lawton, a.k.a. George, a.k.a. Burn, a.k.a. Chicken George, Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Clarence Collins, Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Keith Maurice McFadden, a.k.a. Shine, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit) |
Carol E. Herman, Anne R. Schultz, Asst. U.S. Atty., Kathleen M. Salyer, Miami, FL, for U.S.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Before WILSON, PRYOR and COX, Circuit Judges.
In this consolidated appeal, Gary Moore, Ralph Edward Wester, Theodora Lawton, Clarence Collins, and Keith Maurice McFadden ("defendants") appeal separate district court decisions denying their motions for reduced sentences under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). The defendants' motions were all based on Amendment 706 to the Sentencing Guidelines, which, together with Amendment 713, retroactively reduced the base offense levels applicable to crack cocaine offenses. The district courts denied their motions on the ground that, because the defendants were sentenced as career offenders under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1, Amendment 706 did not have the effect of lowering their applicable guideline ranges. We affirm.
Defendants are federal prisoners convicted of unrelated crack cocaine offenses. In each case, the defendant's base offense level was calculated pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, which considers the quantity of drugs involved in the offense. However, in each case, the defendant was classified as a career offender under § 4B1.1(a) because the defendant was at least eighteen years old at the time of the instant offense, the instant offense was a felony drug offense, and the defendant had at least two prior felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a drug offense. As a career offender, each defendant was assigned an offense level of 37 because the instant offense had a maximum statutory penalty of life imprisonment. See U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1(b). Four of the five defendants received a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, resulting in a total adjusted offense level of 34. All defendants automatically received a criminal history category of VI under § 4B1.1(b) because of their career offender designations.
The applicable guideline range in each case was determined according to the Sentencing Table in Chapter 5, Part A of the Guidelines. For the defendants receiving the three-level reduction, the applicable range was 262 to 327 months' imprisonment. For the fifth defendant (Wester) the applicable range was 360 months to life imprisonment. Collins, Wester, and McFadden each received a sentence within the applicable guideline range.
In the cases of Lawton and Moore, the court imposed a sentence below the applicable range. As to Lawton, the court departed downward to a range of 168 to 210 months' imprisonment after finding that Lawton suffered from diminished capacity. See U.S.S.G. § 5K2.13. The court sentenced Lawton to a term of 180 months' imprisonment. In Moore's case, the government filed a motion pursuant to § 5K.1 and 18 U.S.C. § 3555(a) asking the court to depart from the calculated guideline range because of Moore's substantial assistance to the government. The court granted the motion and imposed a sentence of 132 months' imprisonment.
On November 1, 2007, the Sentencing Commission promulgated Amendment 706, which amended the Drug Quantity Table in U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c). U.S.S.G.App. C, Amend. 706 (2007). The effect of Amendment 706 is to provide a two-level reduction in base offense levels for crack cocaine offenses. See id. The Commission made this amendment retroactively applicable, effective as of March 3, 2008. See U.S.S.G.App. C, Amend. 713 (listing Amendment 706 under U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10(c) as a retroactively applicable amendment).
Following the issuance of Amendment 706, each defendant filed a post-sentencing motion for a reduced sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). In the cases of Moore, Wester, Lawton, and Collins, the district court issued virtually identical orders denying the motions. In each case, the court found that a reduction in sentence was not authorized by § 3582(c)(2) because Amendment 706 did not affect the defendant's status as a career offender under § 4B1.1, and therefore did not lower the applicable guideline range. The court in McFadden's case denied his motion on the same grounds and later denied reconsideration. Following the defendants' timely appeals, we consolidated the cases into the present appeal.
In a § 3582(c)(2) proceeding, "we review de novo the district court's legal conclusions regarding the scope of its authority under the Sentencing Guidelines." United States v. White, 305 F.3d 1264, 1267 (11th Cir.2002) (per curiam). "We review de novo questions of statutory interpretation." United States v. Maupin, 520 F.3d 1304, 1306 (11th Cir.2008) (per curiam).
Before considering the merits, we briefly address an issue pertaining to jurisdiction. See United States v. Cartwright, 413 F.3d 1295, 1299 (11th Cir.2005). At oral argument, we inquired as to whether the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the motions filed by Moore, Wester, Lawton, and Collins, given that those motions were filed before March 3, 2008, the date Amendment 706 became retroactively applicable.1
We have not previously addressed whether the premature filing of a § 3582(c)(2) motion deprives the district court—and therefore this court—of subject matter jurisdiction over the motion. Recently, the Third Circuit suggested that before March 3, 2008, district courts lacked authority under § 3582(c)(2) to apply Amendment 706 retroactively. See United States v. Wise, 515 F.3d 207, 220-21 (3d Cir.2008) ().2 However, Wise does not indicate whether the courts lacked subject matter jurisdiction before that date. At least one other circuit has concluded that not all errors under § 3582(c)(2) are jurisdictional in nature. See United States v. Lawrence, 535 F.3d 631, 638 (7th Cir.2008).
We leave for another day the question whether a district court has subject matter jurisdiction over a § 3582(c)(2) motion before the relevant amendment becomes retroactive. In the present cases, any jurisdictional defects that may have existed were cured by the fact that the district court ruled on the defendants' motions after March 3, 2008. This conclusion is supported by language in the statute authorizing the district court to reduce a defendant's sentence "on its own motion." 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). If, after March 3, 2008, a district court may sua sponte reduce a defendant's sentence, it would be anomalous to hold that the court lacked jurisdiction to do so in response to a defendant's motion, simply because the motion was filed before March 3. We thus conclude that there was no jurisdictional bar to the district court's consideration of the § 3582(c)(2) motions in these cases.
Section 3582(c) provides in relevant part:
The court may not modify a term of imprisonment once it has been imposed except that—
...
(2) 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 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 994(o), upon motion of the defendant or the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, or on its own motion, the court may reduce the term of imprisonment, after considering the factors set forth in section 3553(a) to the extent that they are applicable, if such a reduction is consistent with applicable policy statements issued by the Sentencing Commission.
18 U.S.C. § 3582(c).
Thus, the question before us is whether the defendants' sentences were "based on a sentencing range that has subsequently been lowered." The defendants argue that this language should be read to apply in cases where a defendant's base offense level has been altered by a retroactively applicable guideline amendment. In such cases, they argue, the district court must recalculate the applicable guideline range and then determine, in light of the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, whether a reduction is warranted.
The government responds that the defendants are ineligible for relief because they were sentenced as career offenders, and therefore Amendment 706 has no effect on their guideline ranges. While acknowledging that the amendment lowers the defendants' base offense levels, the government notes that their final offense levels were determined by § 4B1.1, the career offender guideline. Because Amendment 706 did not alter the sentencing ranges for career offenders, the government contends that the district courts lacked authority to reduce the defendants' sentences.
The plain language of § 3582(c)(2) favors the government's interpretation. By its terms, the statute applies to a defendant whose sentence was "based on" a subsequently-lowered "sentencing range." Here, the defendants' sentences were based on the guideline ranges applicable to career offenders under § 4B1.1. The defendants' base offense levels under § 2D1.1 played no role in the calculation of these ranges. Thus, Amendment 706's effect on the defendants' base offense levels would not lower...
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