United States v. Wayne Kramer, III, 707 F. App'x 759

In 2010 Wayne Kramer pleaded guilty under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1)(C) to one count of distributing heroin; the plea agreement specified a sentence of 144 months, 3 years supervised release, and a $100 assessment.
The District Court accepted the Rule 11(c)(1)(C) agreement and imposed the agreed 144-month term.
In June 2017 Kramer moved under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) seeking a sentence reduction based on Amendment 782 (which lowered certain drug offense base offense levels by two).
The District Court dismissed the § 3582(c)(2) motion as Kramer's sentence was not eligible for reduction; Kramer appealed.
The plea agreement did not identify the applicable advisory Guidelines range, total offense level, or criminal history category; Kramer relied on the PSR for those details.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a defendant who entered a Rule 11(c)(1)(C) plea is eligible for a § 3582(c)(2) reduction when the agreement does not reference the Guidelines range	Kramer argued his sentence should be reduced under Amendment 782; he pointed to the PSR to show Guidelines support	Government argued Kramer is ineligible because the Rule 11(c)(1)(C) agreement did not make the sentence "based on" the Guidelines	Court held Kramer is ineligible: Rule 11(c)(1)(C) sentence reductions under § 3582(c)(2) require the agreement to make clear that the sentence was founded on the Guidelines; Kramer’s agreement did not do so

Freeman v. United States, 564 U.S. 522 (2011) (concurrence describing when an 11(c)(1)(C) agreement is "based on" the Guidelines)
United States v. Weatherspoon, 696 F.3d 416 (3d Cir. 2012) (an 11(c)(1)(C) plea is eligible for § 3582(c)(2) relief only if agreement makes clear it was founded on the Guidelines)
United States v. Mateo, 560 F.3d 152 (3d Cir. 2009) (standard of review for denials of § 3582(c)(2) motions)