Opinion
Case No.: 1:06-031 (WLS)
05-09-2013
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. NICOLE WENSIL, Defendant.
ORDER
Before the Court is Defendant Nicole Winsel's Motion for Downward Departure (Doc. 241.) In the motion, Winsel urges the Court to reduce her nearly six-year-old sentence because of her post-sentence rehabilitative efforts. She bases this request on a number of cases involving post-arrest conduct and downward departures under United States Sentencing Guideline § 5K2.0 and Koon v. United States, 518 U.S. 81 (1996).
While Wensil's efforts at rehabilitation are laudable, they are not grounds for a court to reduce a sentence six years after its entry. A district court's ability to modify a sentence is limited by 18 U.S.C § 3582. A district court may not reduce a sentence except on motion from the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, under Rule 35, or if the defendant's sentence was based on a sentencing range subsequently lowered by the Sentencing Commission. 18 U.S.C. § 3582. None of those circumstances are present here. The cases and guidelines Winsel cites are distinguishable because they involve presentence conduct. See, e.g., United States v. Threadgill, 172 F.3d 357, 364, 373 (5th Cir. 1999).
Accordingly, Winsel's motion (Doc. 241) must be, and is, DENIED.
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THE HONORABLE W. LOUIS SANDS ,
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT