Opinion
No. 08-2400.
Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) July 13, 2009.
Filed: July 27, 2009.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Criminal No. 02-cr-00249-001), District Judge: Honorable Thomas I. Vanaskie.
Theodore B. Smith, III, Esq., Office of United States Attorney, Harrisburg, PA, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Ronald A. Krauss, Esq., Office of Federal Public Defender, Harrisburg, PA, for Defendant-Appellee.
Before: RENDELL, FUENTES and ROTH, Circuit Judges.
OPINION OF THE COURT
This appeal raises a single issue: whether a district court may reduce a defendant's sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2), the statutory provision allowing a court to reduce a sentence which is "based on a sentencing range that has subsequently been lowered by the Sentencing Commission," when that sentence is imposed pursuant to a binding plea agreement. Concluding that enforcement of the stipulated sentence was not required, the District Court reduced defendant Antoine Tucker's sentence; the government appealed. We conclusively resolved the issue in United States v. Sanchez, holding, "If 'binding' is to have meaning, it cannot be undone by the discretionary possibility of a different sentence under § 3582(c)." 562 F.3d 275, 282 (3d Cir. 2009).
The District Court had jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3231. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291.
Here, Tucker stipulated to the sentence imposed in a binding plea agreement under Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(c)(1)(c), the validity of which is undisputed. Accordingly, we will REVERSE the order of the District Court and REMAND the case.