Notable pipeline provisions in FIRST STEP Act in the wake of litigation history surrounding FSA of 2010
Long-time readers surely recall the legal uncertainty that followed the last congressional reduction of severe mandatory sentencing provisions in the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 with respect to "pipeline" cases, i.e., cases in which offense conduct took place, but a sentence had not yet been imposed, before the enactment of the FSA's new crack sentencing provisions. This legal uncertainty made it all the way up the Supreme Court in Dorsey v. US, 567 U.S. 260 (2012), and here is how the Court's 5-4 majority explained and resolved the issue:
In 2010, Congress enacted a new statute reducing the crack-to-powder cocaine disparity from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1. Fair Sentencing Act, 124Stat. 2372. The new statute took effect on August 3, 2010. The question here is whether the Act’s more lenient penalty provisions apply to offenders who committed a crack cocaine crime before August 3, 2010, but were not sentenced until after August 3. We hold that the new, more lenient mandatory minimum provisions do apply to those pre-Act offenders.
Fast forward to the present day, and Congress this time around has figured out that it can and should address these pipeline issues directly when making statutory sentencing modifications. Specifically, here are the operative pipeline instructions that appear in the FIRST STEP Act with its three important sentencing changes:
SEC. 401. REDUCE AND RESTRICT ENHANCED SENTENCING FOR PRIOR DRUG FELONIES....
(c) APPLICABILITY TO PENDING CASES. This section, and the amendments made by this section, shall apply to any offense that was committed before the date of enactment of this Act, if a sentence for the offense has not been imposed as of such date of enactment.
SEC. 402. BROADENING OF EXISTING SAFETY VALVE....
(b) APPLICABILITY. The amendments made by this section shall apply only to a conviction entered on or after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 403. CLARIFICATION OF SECTION 924(c) OF TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE....
(b) APPLICABILITY TO PENDING CASES. This section, and the amendments made by this section, shall apply to any offense that was committed before the date of enactment of this Act, if a sentence for the offense has not been imposed as of such date of enactment.
Put simply, Congress in the FIRST STEP Act has expressly provided that all cases in the pipeline, as long as a defendant has not yet been sentenced, are to be sentenced in accord with the new and lowered mandatory minimums (section 401) and without stacked 924(c) charges (section 403). But, in slight contrast, only those pipeline defendants who have not yet been convicted, are able to be sentenced with the benefit of the new and expended safety valve provision (section 402) which allows defendants with a bit more criminal history to avoid the application of otherwise applicable drug mandatory minimums.
I am pleased to see Congress this time around directly addressing pipeline issues and thereby answering the most basic questions about how pending cases are to be handed. And yet, ever eager to issue spot, I already have some follow-up questions:
- Imagine a defendant already sentenced earlier in 2018, but his sentence is reversed on some other ground and now he faces resentencing in 2019. Can a defendant get the benefit of any new provisions of the FIRST STEP Act upon resentencing?
- Or imagine a defendant who might benefit from the broader safety valve and has not yet been sentence but did plead guilty earlier in 2018. Could this defendant move to vacate his plea simply in order to plead guilty anew in 2019 so that his conviction will then be "entered on or after the date of enactment of" the FIRST STEP Act?
The pipeline issues after the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 impacted perhaps thousands of defendants, whereas the issues I raise above may only impact dozens. But for those particular defendants, what is still left uncertain might still certainly be a very big deal. (I also suspect there are additional pipeline issues I have not yet imagined, and I welcome input on this issue and all other relating to FIRST STEP Act implementation.)
Comments
Post a Comment