Case ID: f-appx_478/html/0325-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Chief Judge.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Byron WRIGHT, Defendant-Appellant (10-4422), and Eric Taylor, Defendant-Appellant (10-6471).
    Nos. 10-4422, 10-6471.
    United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.
    Sept. 6, 2012.
    Before: BATCHELDER, Chief Circuit Judge; McKEAGUE, and STRANCH, Circuit Judges.
   ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Chief Judge.

This is a consolidated appeal. In 2009, Appellants Byron Wright and Erie Taylor pled guilty to and were convicted of possessing with the intent to distribute certain quantities of crack cocaine. In 2010, they were sentenced under the statutory mandatory mínimums that were in place at the time of their respective crimes. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1) (2006 ed.). But between their convictions and sentencing, the Fair Sentencing Act, 124 Stat. 2872, had taken effect. That Act set new and more lenient mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine crimes. Wright and Taylor argued below, and argue now on appeal, that their sentences should have been determined under the new standards set by the Fair Sentencing Act instead of the sentencing standards in effect at the time of their crimes. In Dorsey v. United States, 567 U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 2321, 2326, 183 L.Ed.2d 250 (2012), the Supreme Court agreed, holding that the Act’s lower mandatory mínimums apply to the post-Act sentencing of pre-Act offenders.

Accordingly, we VACATE Wright and Taylor’s sentences and REMAND for re-sentencing consistent with Dorsey and the Fair Sentencing Act.