United States Court of Appeals

For the Seventh Circuit

Chicago, Illinois 60604

Submitted June 22, 2018*

Decided June 25, 2018

Before

FRANK H. EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge

AMY C. BARRETT, Circuit Judge

MICHAEL B. BRENNAN, Circuit Judge

No. 18-1446

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

HAGOP DEMIRJIAN,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States 

District Court for the Northern District 

of Illinois, Eastern Division.

No. 97 CR 789-3

Manish S. Shah,

Judge.

O R D E R

Hagop Demirjian appeals the denial of his second motion for a lower prison 

sentence based on a retroactive amendment to the Sentencing Guidelines. The district 

court properly denied his successive motion, however, so we affirm the judgment.

In 1999, a federal jury convicted Demirjian of conspiring to distribute cocaine, 

see 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a)(1), and possessing cocaine with intent to distribute it, 

see id. § 841(a)(1). The district court found Demirjian responsible for 600 kilograms of 

 

* We have agreed to decide this case without oral argument because the appeal is 

frivolous. See FED. R. APP. P. 34(a)(2)(A).

NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION

To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1
No. 18-1446 Page 2

cocaine, resulting in a base offense level of 38. See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c)(1) (1998). The 

court calculated his Guidelines range as 360 months to life and sentenced him to 

360 months in prison. Demirjian then unsuccessfully pursued a direct appeal and

three collateral attacks.

In 2014, Demirjian moved for a sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2),

which authorizes the district court to reduce an imprisonment term when the 

United States Sentencing Commission lowers the base offense level for a particular 

offense. Hughes v. United States, __ S. Ct. __, No. 17-155, 2018 WL 2465187, at *5

(June 4, 2018). He relied on Amendment 782, a retroactive amendment to the Guidelines 

that lowered the base offense level for most drug crimes. See U.S.S.G. Supp. to App. C, 

Amend. 782 (2014). But Judge Zagel, the assigned judge at the time, concluded that the 

amendment did not alter Demirjian’s base offense level—he was responsible for 

600 kilograms of cocaine, still well above the increased threshold of 450 kilograms to 

earn a base offense level of 38, see id. In turn, his sentencing range remained 

360 months to life, so he was ineligible for a sentence reduction. We dismissed 

Demirjian’s appeal from that decision as untimely. United States v. Demirjian, 

No. 16-1646 (7th Cir. dismissed June 7, 2016). He then asked the district court to 

reconsider its decision. Judge Shah, to whom the case was reassigned after Judge Zagel

took senior status, denied the motion.

Undeterred, Demirjian filed a second § 3582(c)(2) motion, which is the subject of 

this appeal. In it, he argued for the first time that he should have received the same

sentence reduction that a codefendant received. Judge Shah denied the motion, 

explaining that only one motion per retroactive Guidelines amendment is permitted.

On appeal, Demirjian argues that no jurisdictional limit exists on a district court’s 

ability to consider a successive § 3582(c)(2) motion. Although he is correct, 

see United States v. Taylor, 778 F.3d 667, 669–70 (7th Cir. 2015), he misunderstands the 

district court’s ruling in his case. Without invoking “jurisdiction,” the court properly 

concluded that Demirjian already had used his one chance to pursue a sentence 

reduction under Amendment 782. See United States v. Beard, 745 F.3d 288, 292 (7th Cir. 

2014); United States v. Redd, 630 F.3d 649, 651 (7th Cir. 2011).

AFFIRMED