IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA : CRIMINAL ACTION 

:

v. :

:

ANDRE KEYES : NO. 03-487

MEMORANDUM

Padova, J. October 29, 2015

Before the Court is Andre Keyes’s pro se Motion for Modification or Reduction of 

Sentence, which Keyes filed pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2), and which seeks to reduce 

Keyes’s sentence based on the 2014 amendments to the United States Sentencing Guidelines 

concerning drug offenses, which are set forth in Amendment 782. For the following reasons, we 

deny the Motion.

On February 14, 2004, a jury convicted Keyes of nine counts of a Superseding Indictment 

that charged him with conspiring to distribute in excess of 50 grams, that is, approximately 30 

kilograms, of cocaine base, in violation 21 U.S.C. § 846 (Count 1); three counts of possession 

with intent to distribute in excess of five grams of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 

841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(B) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Counts 2, 10 and 19); three counts of possessing with 

intent to distribute in excess of five grams of cocaine base within 1,000 feet of a school, in 

violation of 21 U.S.C. § 860(a) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Counts 3, 11 and 20); possession of a firearm 

in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 

(Count 4); and employing a juvenile to distribute cocaine base, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 

861(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Count 18). 

We sentenced Keyes on February 22, 2005. At the sentencing hearing, we found Keyes 

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responsible for the distribution of 52 grams of cocaine base. Under the then-applicable 

November 1, 2004 United States Sentencing Guidelines, an offense involving more than 50 

grams but less than 150 grams of cocaine base resulted in a base offense level of 32. U.S.S.G. § 

2D1.1(c)(4) (2004). We adjusted Keyes’s base offense level upward by two levels for 

distribution in a school zone, for a total offense level of 34. U.S.S.G. § 2D1.2(a)(1). With a 

criminal history category of I, Keyes’s advisory guideline range on the drug counts was 151-188

months. U.S.S.G. Ch. 5, Pt. A. In addition, because of the amount of cocaine base involved in 

the drug offenses, Keyes was subject to a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence pursuant to 21 

U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A) (2005). He also faced a mandatory consecutive sentence of 60 months’ 

imprisonment on the § 924(c) count. See 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i). We varied downward 

from the guideline range on the drug counts and imposed the mandatory minimum sentence of 

120 months on those counts, and we also imposed the mandatory consecutive sentence of 60 

months on the § 924(c) count, for a total mandatory minimum sentence of 180 months’

imprisonment. 

In 2013, Keyes filed his first motion for modification of his sentence pursuant to 18 

U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). That first sentence reduction motion was based on Amendment 706 to the 

Sentencing Guidelines, which lowered the base offense levels applicable to crack cocaine 

offenses. We denied that motion for modification of sentence in a January 2014 Memorandum. 

United States v. Keyes, Crim. A. No. 03-487-3, 2014 WL 296943 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 28, 2014). As 

we explained, even though application of Amendment 706 lowered Keyes’s total offense level

on his drug counts to 32, and lowered his sentencing range for his drug offenses to 121-151 

months, Keyes remained subject to the 120-month statutory mandatory minimum on the drug 

charges, as well as the consecutive 60-month mandatory consecutive sentence on the § 924(c) 

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charge, for a total statutory mandatory sentence of 180 months. Id. at *2. We further explained 

that we were not at liberty to lower Keyes’s sentence below the statutory mandatory minimum 

and consecutive sentences set forth in in 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A) (2005) and 18 U.S.C. § 

924(c)(1)(A). Id. (citing Sanchez-Cordero v. United States, 317 F. App’x 267, 267 (3d Cir. 

2009) (per curiam) (stating that defendant “is not eligible for a sentence reduction [under § 

3582(c)(2)] because he was sentenced to a mandatory minimum” and “the Sentencing 

Commission has not altered and cannot alter a statutory mandatory minimum sentence” (citation 

omitted))); U.S.S.G. § 5G1.1(c)(2) (providing that a court may not impose a sentence within a 

guideline range, if that range is “less than any statutorily required minimum sentence”). 

Keyes has now filed a second motion for reduction of sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 

3582(c)(2). The instant motion seeks the benefit of Amendment 782 to the Guidelines, which 

further reduced the base offense levels applicable to crack cocaine offenses and reduces Keyes’s 

total offense level on his drug offenses to a 26. This offense level, in combination with his 

criminal history category of I, produces an advisory guideline range of 63-78 months. However, 

just as before, Keyes remains subject to the statutory mandatory minimum sentences of 120 

months on the drug counts and a consecutive 60 months on the gun count, for a total mandatory 

sentence of 180 months. Accordingly, as before, we are not at liberty to reduce his sentence. 

See Sanchez-Cordero, 317 F. App’x at 267.

For the foregoing reasons, we deny Keyes’s Motion for Modification of Sentence. An 

appropriate Order follows. 

BY THE COURT:

/s/ John R. Padova, J.

______________________________ 

John R. Padova, J.

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