Sixth Circuit clarifies FIRST STEP creates eligibility for reduced sentence whenever Fair Sentencing Act "modified the statutory penalty"
Section 404 of the FIRST STEP Act of 2018 finally provided for retroactive application of statutory changes to reduce federal crack sentences put in place by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. Simple as that might sound, lower courts are still struggling with all the different permutations of who may be eligible for a reduced sentence under FIRST STEP, and a Sixth Circuit panel addressed this issue in a short and effective opinion yesterday in US v. Beamus, No. 19-5533 (6th Cir. Nov. 21, 2019) (available here). I recommend the opinion in full, but here is the essence in four paragraphs:
Beamus requested resentencing under the First Step Act. The district court denied this request without reaching the merits, concluding that because the Sentencing Guidelines classify Beamus as a “career offender[],” he is “ineligible for [a] sentence reduction[] under the First Step Act.” ROA 13 at A-2. Beamus appeals that determination, and the government concedes error.
Rightly so. By its terms, the First Step Act permits Beamus to seek resentencing. He was convicted of an offense for which the Fair Sentencing Act modified the statutory penalty, and he has not received a reduction in accordance with that Act or lost such a motion on the merits. The text of the First Step Act contains no freestanding exception for career offenders. Nor would one expect to see such an exception. It makes retroactive the Fair Sentencing Act’s changes to the statutory range for crack cocaine offenses....
It’s true, as the government notes, that the Fair Sentencing Act’s changes to the statutory penalty for Beamus’s drug offense also would have affected his guidelines range. But that’s happenstance in this instance. Beamus is eligible for resentencing because, and only because, the Fair Sentencing Act modified the statutory range for his offense. That the Sentencing Guidelines also would have applied differently does not affect his eligibility for resentencing.
That Beamus is eligible for resentencing does not mean he is entitled to it. The First Step Act ultimately leaves the choice whether to resentence to the district court’s sound discretion. See First Step Act of 2018, § 404(b); see also United States v. Hegwood, 934 F.3d 414, 418 (5th Cir. 2019). In exercising that discretion, a judge may take stock of several considerations, among them the criminal history contained in the presentence report. How do these considerations play out for Beamus? That’s a question only the district court can answer. We reverse and remand to give it the opportunity to do so.
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