FI L ED U.S. COURT OF APPEAL S EL EVENTH CI RCUI T APRI L 29, 2009 THOMAS K. KAH

N CL ERK [ D O N O T P U B L I S H ]

I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S C O U R T O F A P P E A L S

F O R T H E E L E V E N T H C I R C U I T

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ N o
. 0 8

- 1 6 3 7 2 N o n - A r g u m e n t C a l e n d a r

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ D

. C

. D o c k e t N o
. 0 5

- 0 0 1 9 4

- C R

- J T C

- 1

U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A M E R I C A ,

P l a i n t i f f

- A p p e l l e e ,

v e r s u s
G U S T A V U S K

. J O H N S O N ,
D e f e n d a n t

- A p p e l l a n t

.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A p p e a l f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s D i s t r i c t C o u r t f o r t h e N o r t h e r n D i s t r i c t o f G e o r g i a

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ( A p r i l 2 9 , 2 0 0 9 )

B e f o r e H U L L , W I L S O N a n d F A Y , C i r c u i t J u d g e s
.
P E R C U R I A M :
G u s t a v u s J o h n s o n , a f

e d e r a l p r i s o n e r c o n v i c t e d o f , i n t e r a l i a , c r a c k c o c a i n eo f

f e n s e s , a p p e a l s p r o s e t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t ’ s d e n i a l o f h i s 1 8 U

. S

. C

. § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 )

m o t i o n f o r s e n t e n c e r e d u c t i o n
. A f t e r r e v i e w , w e a f

f i r m
. 1

U n d e r § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 ) , a d i s t r i c t c o u r t m a y m o d i f y a n a l r e a d y i n c a r c e r a t e d
d e f e n d a n t ’ s t e r m o f i m p r i s o n m e n t i f t h e d e f e n d a n t ’ s s e n t e n c e w a s “ b a s e d o n a

s e n t e n c i n g r a n g e t h a t h a s s u b s e q u e n t l y b e e n l o w e r e d b y t h e S e n t e n c i n g
C o m m i s s i o n p u r s u a n t t o 2 8 U

. S

. C

. § 9 9 4 ( o )

. ” 1 8 U

. S

. C

. § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 )

. H o w e v e r ,

“ [ w ] h e r e a r e t r o a c t i v e l y a p p l i c a b l e g u i d e l i n e a m e n d m e n t r e d u c e s a d e f e n d a n t ’ s
b a s e o f f e n s e l e v e l , b u t d o e s n o t a l t e r t h e s e n t e n c i n g r a n g e u p o n w h i c h h i s o r h e r

s e n t e n c e w a s b a s e d , § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 ) d o e s n o t a u t h o r i z e a r e d u c t i o n i n s e n t e n c e
. ”

U n i t e d S t a t e s v
. M o o r e , 5 4 1 F

. 3 d 1 3 2 3 , 1 3 3 0 ( 1 1 t h C i r
. 2 0 0 8 ) , c e r t

. d e n i e d , 1 2 9 S

. C t

. 9 6 5 ( 2 0 0 9 ) , a n d ,

_ _ _ S

. C t

.

_ _ _ , 2 0 0 9 W L 3 0 1 8 5 4 ( U

. S

. M a r
. 9 , 2 0 0 9 ) ( N o
. 0 8

- 8 5 5 4 ) ; s e e a l s o U

. S

. S

. G

. § 1 B 1

. 1 0 ( a ) ( 2 ) ( B )

. A r e d u c t i o n i s n o t a u t h o r i z e d i f t h e

a m e n d m e n t d o e s n o t l o w e r a d e f e n d a n t ’ s a p p l i c a b l e g u i d e l i n e s r a n g e “ b e c a u s e o f

t h e o p e r a t i o n o f a n o t h e r g u i d e l i n e o r s t a t u t o r y p r o v i s i o n
. ” U

. S

. S

. G

. § 1 B 1

. 1 0 c m t

.

n
. 1 ( A )

.
T h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t d i d n o t e r r i n c o n c l u d i n g t h a t J o h n s o n w a s i n e l i g i b l e f o r a § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 ) r e d u c t i o n
. J o h n s o n ’ s § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 ) m o t i o n i s b a s e d o n A m e n d m e n t

7 0 6 t o t h e S e n t e n c i n g G u i d e l i n e s , w h i c h r e d u c e d t h e b a s e o f f e n s e l e v e l s i n

“We re view de novo a

district court’s c onclusions about the scope of its leg al authority 1 under 18 U .S.C. § 3582(c)(2) .” United States v. James, 548 F.3d 983, 984 (11th Cir. 2008).
2U

. S

. S

. G

. § 2 D 1

. 1 ( c ) a p p l i c a b l e t o c r a c k c o c a i n e o f f e n s e s
. A t s e n t e n c i n g , J o h n s o n ’ s o f

f e n s e l e v e l w a s b a s e d o n t h e c a r e e r o f f e n d e r o f f e n s e l e v e l i n U

. S

. S

. G

. § 4 B 1

. 1 ( c ) ( 2 ) ( A ) , n o t t h e o f f e n s e l e v e l f

o r h i s c r a c k c o c a i n e o f

f e n s e s f o u n d i n
U

. S

. S

. G

. § 2 D 1

. 1 ( c ) ’ s d r u g q u a n t i t y t a b l e s
. A l t h o u g h t h e s e n t e n c i n g c o u r t 2

d e p a r t e d d o w n w a r d t h r e e l e v e l s , J o h n s o n ’ s s e n t e n c i n g r a n g e w a s n o t a f f e c t e d b y
A m e n d m e n t 7 0 6

. S e e M o o r e , 5 4 1 F

. 3 d a t 1 3 2 7

- 3 0 ( c o n c l u d i n g t h a t A m e n d m e n t

7 0 6 h a s n o e f

f e c t o n t h e s e n t e n c i n g r a n g e o f a d e f e n d a n t s e n t e n c e d a s a c a r e e r

o f f e n d e r p u r s u a n t t o U

. S

. S

. G

. § 4 B 1

. 1 e v e n w h e n t h e d e f e n d a n t r e c e i v e d a § 5 K 1

. 1 d o w n w a r d d e p a r t u r e a n d t h a t t h e d e f e n d a n t t h u s i s n o t e l i g i b l e f o r a § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 ) r e d u c t i o n )

. J o h n s o n ’ s a r g u m e n t t h a t h e i s e l i g i b l e f o r a § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 ) r e d u c t i o n b a s e d o n
U n i t e d S t a t e s v
. B o o k e r , 5 4 3 U

. S

. 2 2 0 , 1 2 5 S

. C t

. 7 3 8 ( 2 0 0 5 ) , a n d K i m b r o u g h v
. U n i t e d S t a t e s , 5 5 2 U

. S

.

_ _ _ , 1 2 8 S

. C t

. 5 5 8 ( 2 0 0 7 ) , i s f o r e c l o s e d b y o u r p r e c e d e n t

. S e e U n i t e d S t a t e s v
. M e l v i n , 5 5 6 F

. 3 d 1 1 9 0 , 1 1 9 2

- 9 3 ( 1 1 t h C i r
. 2 0 0 9 ) ( c o n c l u d i n g

t h a t “ B o o k e r a n d K i m b r o u g h d o n o t p r o h i b i t t h e l i m i t a t i o n s o n a j u d g e ’ s d i s c r e t i o n
i n r e d u c i n g a s e n t e n c e i m p o s e d b y § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 ) a n d t h e a p p l i c a b l e p o l i c y s t a t e m e n t

Be cause J ohnson qualified as a car eer offe nder unde r U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1( a), a nd his 2 multipl e counts of c onviction included an 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) firea rms offe nse, his applicable g uidelines rang e wa s the g rea ter of tha t called f or by either U .S.S.G. § 4B1.1(c) (2)( A) or § 4B1.1( c)( 2)(B ). U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1( c)( 2). B eca use the ra ng e ca lculated pur suant to § 4B1.1( c)( 2)(A) was the g rea ter of the two, that rang e applied.
3b y t h e S e n t e n c i n g C o m m i s s i o n ” ) , p e t i t i o n f o r c e r t

. f i l e d , ( U

. S

. F e b

. 1 0 , 2 0 0 9 ) ( N o
. 0 8

- 8 6 6 4 ) ; U n i t e d S t a t e s v
. J o n e s , 5 4 8 F

. 3 d 1 3 6 6 , 1 3 6 9 ( 1 1 t h C i r
. 2 0 0 8 ) ( c o n c l u d i n g t h a t B o o k e r d o e s n o t p r o v i d e a b a s i s o n w h i c h t o g r a n t a § 3 5 8 3 ( c ) ( 2 )

m o t i o n ) , c e r t

. d e n i e d ,

_ _ _ S

. C t

.

_ _ _ , 2 0 0 9 W L 4 6 9 0 7 1 ( U

. S

. M a r
. 2 3 , 2 0 0 9 ) ( N o
. 0 8

- 8 8 6 5 )

. T o t h e e x t e n t J o h n s o n a r g u e s t h a t t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t a t h i s o r i g i n a l

s e n t e n c i n g s h o u l d h a v e c a l c u l a t e d h i s o f f e n s e l e v e l u s i n g U

. S

. S

. G

. § 2 D 1

. 1 , t h i s

a r g u m e n t i s o u t s i d e t h e s c o p e o f a § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 ) p r o c e e d i n g
. S e e 1 8 U

. S

. C

. § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 ) ( l i m i t i n g p r o c e e d i n g s t o c a s e s w h e r e r e t r o a c t i v e a m e n d m e n t a f f e c t s

t h e a p p l i c a b l e s e n t e n c i n g r a n g e ) ; U n i t e d S t a t e s v
. B r a v o , 2 0 3 F

. 3 d 7 7 8 , 7 8 1 ( 1 1 t h

C i r
. 2 0 0 0 ) ( e x p l a i n i n g t h a t § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 ) p r o c e e d i n g s d o n o t c o n s t i t u t e a d e n o v o

r e s e n t e n c i n g )

. A F F I R M E D
.

4