United States v. Ronald WilliamsUnited States v. Ronald Williams
Case Information
*1 Before WOLLMAN, LOKEN, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
*2
Ronald Williams sought a sentence reduction under
lowered base offense levels for crack cocaine charges. Williams appeals. We affirm.
Williams pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine in
violation of
The Sentencing Commission retroactively lowered the base offense levels for crack cocaine violations in 2007. With that change Williams had a new base offense level of 34 and a guideline range of 188 to 235 months. The district court then reduced Williams's sentence to 181 months.
Congress subsequently lowered the base offense levels for crack cocaine violations in the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 so that the quantity of drugs for which Williams was responsible would now produce a base offense level of 32 and a guideline range of 151 to 188 months. Williams moved for another sentence reduction based on this change since his sentence had been initially based on the drug quantity table. The district court denied Williams's motion, however, because his *3 career offender level was now higher and thus controlled his sentence. See U.S.S.G § 1B1.10(a)(2)(B).
We review de novo the district court's determination that Williams was not
eligible for a sentence reduction under § 3582(c)(2). United States v. Tolliver, 570
F.3d 1062, 1065 (8th Cir. 2009). A district court may reduce a defendant's sentence
under § 3582 if his guideline range is subsequently lowered, but only if the reduction
actually would "have the effect of lowering [the] applicable guideline range."
U.S.S.G § 1B1.10(a)(2)(B). Accordingly, we recognized in United States v.
Washington,
Washington controls the outcome of this case. As the district court correctly
determined, the drug quantity table provided a lower base offense level at this
junction in Williams's case than the career offender provision. Compare U.S.S.G.
§ 2D1.1(c)(4) (base offense level 32 for 630 grams of crack cocaine) with id. §
4B1.1(b)(2) (base offense level 34 for crime with statutory maximum sentence 25
years or more). Williams is not eligible for a reduction that would take his sentence
below the career offender guideline range even though his original sentence was
based on the drug quantity table. Washington,
Williams argues that Washington does not apply because the district court
never determined that he was a career offender. Although Williams is correct that the
district court did not use the term "career offender" at sentencing, the court adopted
the PSR's recommendations. These recommendations included a finding that
Williams was a career offender. Since the sentencing court conclusively determined
that Williams was a career offender, we "leave [that] guideline application decision[]
unaffected" and apply Washington. U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10(b)(1); Dillon v. United States,
Accordingly, we affirm the order of the district court denying Williams's motion for a sentence reduction.
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Notes
[1] The Honorable John A. Jarvey, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Iowa.