United States v. Joseph Phelps, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 9519

Phelps pled guilty to conspiracy to manufacture >500 grams methamphetamine; guideline range (2012) was 188–235 months (offense level 35, CHC II).
At sentencing the court varied downward under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) and imposed the statutory minimum of 120 months.
The government later filed a Rule 35(b) motion for substantial assistance; the court granted it and reduced Phelps’s sentence to 60 months.
Amendment 782 (retroactive) lowered Phelps’s guideline range to 151–188 months; Phelps moved under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) for a comparable reduction to 48 months, relying on U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10(b)(2)(B) and application note 3.
The district court instead compared Phelps’s 60-month current sentence to the earlier 120-month sentence and calculated a “comparably less” floor of 75 months, denied relief; the Seventh Circuit reversed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
How to calculate a sentence “comparably less than the amended guideline range” under U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10(b)(2)(B) when a below-range sentence later was reduced for substantial assistance	Calculate ratio of current (post-Rule 35) sentence to the bottom of the original unamended guideline range and apply that percentage to the bottom of the amended range (yields ~48 months)	Judge compared current sentence to the initial below-guideline sentence (60 vs 120) isolating only the portion attributable to the Rule 35 reduction, producing a higher floor (~75 months)	Apply application note 3 method: compare current sentence to original unamended guideline bottom, convert to percentage, and apply to amended guideline bottom; Phelps eligible for reduction to not less than ~48 months

Dillon v. United States, 560 U.S. 817 (Supreme Court) (two-step § 3582(c)(2) framework: consistency with policy statements, then § 3553(a) consideration)
United States v. Nichols, 789 F.3d 795 (7th Cir.) (earlier Seventh Circuit case discussing § 1B1.10 interpretations)