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remanding to the district court to clarify whether the "sentence was in fact premised on the crack cocaine guidelines"
Summary of this case from United States v. PonderOpinion
No. 09-0042-cr.
June 17, 2011.
PRESENT: ROBERT D. SACK, PETER W. HALL, DEBRA ANN LIVINGSTON, Circuit Judges.
RANDOLPH Z. VOLKELL, Merrick, New York, for Defendant-Appellant Shonta McPherson. H. GORDON HALL, Assistant United States Attorney (Sandra S. Glover, Assistant United States Attorney, on the brief), for David B. Fein, United States Attorney, District of Connecticut, New Haven, Connecticut for Appellee United States of America.
Appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Hall, J.) denying Defendant-Appellant Shonta McPherson's motion to reduce his sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2).
UPON DUE CONSIDERATION it is hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the order of the district court be VACATED and the case REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this Order.
We assume the parties' familiarity with the facts, procedural history, and the issues on appeal. The district court denied McPherson's section 3582(c)(2) motion without the benefit of our decision in United States v. McGee, 553 F.3d 225 (2d Cir. 2009) (per curiam), and United States v. Martinez, 572 F.3d 82 (2d. Cir. 2009) (per curiam). In McGee, we held that "a defendant who was designated a career offender but ultimately explicitly sentenced based on a Guidelines range calculated by Section 2D1.1 of the [United States Sentencing] Guidelines is eligible for a reduced sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) and the crack amendments." Id. at 230. Because the district court believed that McPherson's eligibility turned on the amendments' effect on his pre-departure Guidelines range rather than on the range that ultimately served as the basis for his sentence, we vacate its order and remand the case so that it may clarify whether McPherson's sentence was in fact premised on the crack cocaine guidelines. See Martinez, 572 F.3d at 84-85; McGee, 553 F.3d at 227. If it was, then the district court should determine whether and to what extent it will resentence the defendant. Of course, if McPherson's sentence when imposed was not based on the crack cocaine guidelines, McPherson is ineligible for a sentence reduction. See United States v. Williams, 551 F.3d 182, 185-86 (2d Cir. 2009).
Accordingly, the order of the district court is VACATED and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this Order.