United States v. Raddy Breton, 672 F. App'x 108

Defendant Raddy Breton pled guilty to attempted possession of methylone with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(b)(1)(C).
Plea agreement included an appeal waiver of prison sentences of 97 months or less; Breton was sentenced to 96 months imprisonment and five years supervised release.
Breton appealed only the supervised-release component; he also filed a pro se brief challenging voluntariness of his plea.
District court calculated supervised-release Guidelines range as three years to life, based on statutory range; parties agree this was a misapplication.
The parties and the Court recognized that Breton qualified for "safety valve" under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f), and U.S.S.G. § 5D1.2 Application Note 2 removes the statutory minimum for such defendants, making the Guidelines range 1–3 years.
The Second Circuit affirmed the conviction and prison term dismissal under the plea waiver but vacated and remanded the supervised-release term for resentencing based on the Guidelines miscalculation.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether district court erred in calculating supervised-release Guidelines range	Government agreed court miscalculated; correct range is 1–3 years under U.S.S.G. § 5D1.2 when safety valve applies	Breton argued the court used incorrect drug-equivalency resulting in 3 years–life calculation; sought relief	Court held error was plain: vacated 5-year supervised release and remanded for resentencing with correct Guidelines range reflected
Whether miscalculation was harmless	Government did not press harmlessness; agreed error existed	Breton contended error affected substantial rights	Court found record did not show harmlessness and applied Molina‑Martinez standard; remanded
Whether plea was knowing and voluntary	Government argued plea was knowing and voluntary; no promise on drug-ratio	Breton argued plea relied on his assumption court would use 200:1 equivalency rather than 500:1	Court held plea was knowing and voluntary: no promises made, defendant acknowledged court would decide sentence and waived appeal for ≤97 months
Whether district court on remand is constrained by statutory maxima/minima	Government: statutory maximum (life) still applies; § 3583 general limits subordinate to drug statute	Breton suggested § 3583 caps supervised release at 3 years per Guidelines	Court held 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C)’s maximum (life) controls despite § 3583 limits; district court may impose any lawful term on remand

Molina‑Martinez v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 1338 (Supreme Court) (defendant sentenced under incorrect Guidelines range need only show a reasonable probability the error affected substantial rights)
United States v. Dorvee, 616 F.3d 174 (2d Cir.) (miscalculation of Guidelines range is procedural error that may skew § 3553(a) analysis)
United States v. Eng, 14 F.3d 165 (2d Cir.) (statutory supervised‑release provisions in drug statutes trump general 18 U.S.C. § 3583 limits)