Defendant Héctor Rodríguez-Peña, having been convicted of multiple criminal offenses back in 1993, appeals from the denial of his motion for reduction of sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c). It being clear that no such relief is warranted, we summarily affirm.
In relevant part, § 3582(c) provides that, where a defendant was sentenced “based on a sentencing range that has subsequently been lowered by the Sentencing Commission,” the district court may reduce that sentence “if such a reduction is consistent with applicable policy statements issued by the ... Commission.” 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). A denial of § 3582(c) relief is reviewed for abuse of discretion. See, e.g., United States v. Hurley,
Defendant advances three separate justifications for a sentence reduction. First, he points to Amendment 500 to the sentencing guidelines, which involved “role in the offense” calculations. The amendment added an application note to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1 (the “aggravating role” provision) stating that an upward adjustment is appropriate only if the defendant managed “one or more other participants”; exercising “management responsibility over the property, assets, or activities of a criminal organization” is not enough. The Commission did not include Amendment 500 among those listed in U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10(c) as eligible for retroactive application. We note, in passing, that the amendment took effect in 1993 and that defendant provides no explanation for his over-twelve-year delay in invoking same.
Defendant’s argument rests on three assertions: (1) that Amendment 500 is “clarifying” rather than “substantive”; (2) that the amendment, for that reason, can be applied retroactively to obtain § 3582(c) relief despite its omission from § 1B1.10(c); and (3) that doing so here would result in a lower sentence. There
On June 1, 1992, the defendant instructed codefendant Victor Rivera to acquire a vehicle to transport the drug cargo and furnished the undercover agent with such a vehicle. Under his instructions codefendant Angel Galindez delivered to the undercover agent $30,000.00 in exchange for the keys and location of the truck containing the marijuana load.
(Emphasis added.) Indeed, the PSR explains that, upon the arrest of a key operative, defendant “agreed to continue in charge of the drug smuggling operation”— a point echoed in our opinion on direct appeal. See United States v. Rodríguez-Peña,
Second, defendant contends that a § 3582(c) reduction is warranted in the wake of United States v. Booker,
Finally, defendant seeks a sentence reduction because of his extensive post-judgment rehabilitation. Yet such conduct, while commendable, has nothing to do with the lowering of the sentencing range by the Commission, as required by § 3582(c). Accordingly, such rehabilitation provides no basis either for a sentencing reduction in its own right, see, e.g., Quesada-Mosquera v. United States,
Defendant also faults the district court for failing to explain the basis for its § 3582(c) denial. This complaint falls short, inasmuch as defendant’s ineligibility for such relief is self-evident. See generally Witty v. Dukakis,
Affirmed.
