UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

_________________________________ 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff - Appellee, 

v. 

JUAN MANUEL CORTEZ-DIAZ, 

 Defendant - Appellant. 

No. 21-3216 

(D.C. No. 2:11-CR-20031-JWL-1) 

(D. Kan.) 

_________________________________ 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT*

_________________________________ 

Before MORITZ, BRISCOE, and CARSON, Circuit Judges. 

_________________________________ 

Proceeding pro se, Juan Cortez-Diaz appeals an order denying his motion for a 

reduced sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A).1

 For the reasons set out below, 

we affirm. 

A jury convicted Cortez-Diaz of several drug offenses stemming from his role 

in an interstate methamphetamine operation. Even though Cortez-Diaz had no prior 

* After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined 

unanimously to honor the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral 

argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore 

submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, 

except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. 

But it may be cited for its persuasive value. See Fed. R. App. P. 32.1(a); 10th Cir. R. 

32.1(A). 

1

 We construe Cortez-Diaz’s pro se brief liberally, but we do not act as his 

advocate. Yang v. Archuleta, 525 F.3d 925, 927 n.1 (10th Cir. 2008). 

FILED 

United States Court of Appeals 

Tenth Circuit 

April 14, 2022

Christopher M. Wolpert 

Clerk of Court

Appellate Case: 21-3216 Document: 010110671022 Date Filed: 04/14/2022 Page: 1
2 

convictions, his recommended sentence under the United States Sentencing 

Guidelines (the Guidelines) was life in prison, based primarily on the weight and 

purity of the drugs involved and the application of several offense-level 

enhancements. The district court ultimately imposed the recommended Guidelines 

sentence of life in prison, and we affirmed that sentence as procedurally and 

substantively reasonable. See United States v. Cortez-Diaz, 565 F. App’x 741, 750 

(10th Cir. 2014) (unpublished). Seven years later, in 2021, Cortez-Diaz filed the 

motion at issue in this appeal, alleging that “extraordinary and compelling reasons” 

warranted a reduction in his sentence. § 3582(c)(1)(A). The district court disagreed 

and denied the motion, and Cortez-Diaz appeals.2

 

Cortez-Diaz argues that the district court abused its discretion in denying his 

§ 3582(c)(1)(A) motion. See United States v. Mannie, 971 F.3d 1145, 1155 (10th Cir. 

2020) (reviewing denial of sentence-reduction motion for abuse of discretion). To 

reduce a defendant’s sentence under § 3582(c)(1)(A), the district court must find that 

2

 Notably, the district court bypassed the government’s threshold argument 

that Cortez-Diaz failed to exhaust administrative remedies, see § 3582(c)(1)(A), 

reasoning that it need not address the argument because exhaustion is not a 

jurisdictional requirement. Although we have since confirmed that exhaustion is 

nonjurisdictional, we made clear that it remains a mandatory claims-processing rule. 

See United States v. Hemmelgarn, 15 F.4th 1027, 1030–31 (10th Cir. 2021). 

Accordingly, the district court should have addressed exhaustion when the 

government properly invoked it below. See Hamer v. Neighborhood Hous. Servs. of 

Chicago, 138 S. Ct. 13, 17 (2017) (“If properly invoked, mandatory claim-processing 

rules must be enforced.”). Nevertheless, we resolve this appeal on the merits (as the 

district court did) because the government declined to file a brief on appeal and thus 

waived the exhaustion issue. See Hemmelgarn, 15 F.4th at 1031 (treating exhaustion 

argument as waived and reaching merits because government did not renew it on 

appeal). 

Appellate Case: 21-3216 Document: 010110671022 Date Filed: 04/14/2022 Page: 2
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a reduction is (1) justified by “extraordinary and compelling reasons”; (2) “consistent 

with applicable policy statements issued by the Sentencing Commission”; and 

(3) supported by “the factors set forth in [18 U.S.C.] § 3553(a), to the extent that they 

are applicable.” United States v. McGee, 992 F.3d 1035, 1042 (10th Cir. 2021). Here, 

the district court determined that Cortez-Diaz failed the first requirement because he 

alleged no extraordinary and compelling reasons to reduce his sentence. We agree. 

As in the district court, Cortez-Diaz primarily argues that an intervening 

change in law justifies a reduced sentence. Specifically, he notes that a few years 

after he was sentenced, Congress lowered the mandatory minimum prison term for 

some drug offenses from life to 25 years. See First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 

115-391, § 401, 132 Stat. 5194, 5220–21 (2018) (amending 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)). 

But as the district court explained, that change does not affect Cortez-Diaz: His life 

sentence resulted from the application of the Guidelines, not a statutory mandatory 

minimum. Indeed, Cortez-Diaz could not have received the relevant mandatory 

minimum because it requires two prior felony convictions, see § 841(b)(1)(A), and he 

“had no countable criminal[-]history points,” Cortez-Diaz, 565 F. App’x at 745 n.8. 

Since the intervening legal change Cortez-Diaz cites does not apply to him, the 

district court properly determined that such change does not qualify as an 

extraordinary and compelling reason to reduce his sentence. 

Aside from an intervening change in law, the only other circumstance CortezDiaz mentions is his “postconviction rehabilitation” efforts, particularly his prison 

employment. Aplt. Br. 14. A statute makes clear, however, that “[r]ehabilitation of 

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the defendant alone shall not be considered an extraordinary and compelling reason” 

for a sentence reduction. 28 U.S.C. § 994(t); see also McGee, 992 F.3d at 1043. Thus, 

Cortez-Diaz’s rehabilitation, without more, does not support § 3582(c)(1)(A) relief. 

In sum, because Cortez-Diaz offered no extraordinary and compelling reasons 

to reduce his sentence, the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying his 

§ 3582(c)(1)(A) motion. We affirm. 

Entered for the Court 

Nancy L. Moritz 

Circuit Judge 

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