[DO NOT PUBLISH]

In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 22-11918

Non-Argument Calendar

____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

TRUMAN BILLINGSLEY, JR., 

a.k.a. Truman Billingsley, 

a.k.a. Tru, 

Defendant-Appellant.

____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of Alabama

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2 Opinion of the Court 22-11918

D.C. Docket No. 2:16-cr-00232-MHH-HNJ-1

____________________

Before JILL PRYOR, LUCK, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Truman Billingsley, a 45-year-old federally incarcerated 

man, appeals the district court’s order denying his motion for 

compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). After careful consideration, we affirm.

I. 

In 2016, Billingsley pled guilty to possessing marijuana with 

the intent to distribute, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a 

drug trafficking crime, and possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony. The district court sentenced him to 84 months’ 

imprisonment followed by 60 months of supervised release.1 

In June 2020, Billingsley filed a pro se motion for compassionate release, which was supplemented soon after by his courtappointed counsel. Billingsley stated that the ongoing COVID-19 

pandemic presented extraordinary and compelling reasons for reducing his sentence to time-served, as his prior bout with skin 

cancer and his family history of diabetes placed him at a higher 

risk of severe illness or death from the virus. Though he had already tested positive for COVID-19 in prison once before, 

1 Billingsley’s projected release date is June 18, 2024.

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Billingsley argued that he was at risk of continued or additional 

complications if he remained incarcerated. Billingsley also expressed his desire to return home and help care for his 96-year-old 

stepfather.

The government opposed his motion, contending that 

Billingsley had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies, that 

he posed a danger to the public, and that he had not shown any

extraordinary and compelling reasons for relief. 

The district court denied Billingsley’s motion, stating that 

he had not satisfied any of the grounds for compassionate release

under the applicable policy statement, U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13. Billingsley appeals, asking us to vacate the district court’s judgment and 

remand the case for further consideration. 

II. 

We review de novo whether a defendant is eligible for a 

sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). United States 

v. Bryant, 996 F.3d 1243, 1251 (11th Cir. 2021). We also review de 

novo questions of statutory interpretation. Id. After eligibility is 

established, we review a district court’s denial of a prisoner’s 

§ 3582(c)(1)(A) motion for abuse of discretion. Id. We liberally 

construe pro se filings. Jones v. Fla. Parole Comm’n, 787 F.3d

1105, 1107 (11th Cir. 2015).2

2 The government asserts that plain error review applies because Billingsley 

raises his argument for the first time on appeal. Billingsley disagrees. NoneUSCA11 Case: 22-11918 Document: 23-1 Date Filed: 04/19/2023 Page: 3 of 9
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III. 

Under § 3582(c)(1)(A), a district court may reduce an imposed term of imprisonment if, after considering the factors contained within 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), it concludes that “extraordinary 

and compelling reasons warrant such a reduction” and the reduction is “consistent with” the applicable policy statement in the 

Sentencing Guidelines: § 1B1.13. 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A); see 

Bryant, 996 F.3d at 1262. “[T]he only circumstances that can rise 

to the level of extraordinary and compelling reasons for compassionate release are limited to those extraordinary and compelling 

reasons as described by [§] 1B1.13.” United States v. Giron, 

15 F.4th 1343, 1346 (11th Cir. 2021).

The application notes for § 1B1.13 contain four groups of 

“extraordinary and compelling reasons” for compassionate release: (A) serious or terminal medical conditions, (B) advanced 

age, (C) family circumstances, and (D) “[o]ther [r]easons . . . [a]s 

determined by the Director of the Bureau of Prisons.” U.S.S.G. 

§ 1B1.13 cmt. n.1(A)–(D). Under our precedent, courts may not

decide the contents of that fourth “catch-all” category of “other 

reasons”—such discretion is reserved solely for the Director of the 

Bureau of Prisons. See Bryant, 996 F.3d at 1262–65.

theless, “[a]s the district court’s order was not erroneous, plain or otherwise, 

we do not determine whether plain error review is applicable.” United States 

v. Lawson, 686 F.3d 1317, 1320 n. 1 (11th Cir. 2012). 

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Here, the district court did not err in denying Billingsley’s 

motion for compassionate release. On appeal, Billingsley does not 

contend that his reasons for relief fall within any of the extraordinary and compelling circumstances listed in § 1B1.13. Instead, he 

argues that the district court improperly concluded that § 1B1.13 

contained an exhaustive list of reasons that could justify his compassionate release—asserting that § 3582(c)(1)(A) empowers 

courts to identify other extraordinary and compelling reasons for 

relief so long as those justifications are “consistent with” those in

§ 1B1.13. 

This argument is foreclosed by our precedent in Bryant and 

Giron, however, and Billingsley has not demonstrated why those 

prior decisions should not be controlling here. 

Bryant held that “district courts are bound by the . . . definition of ‘extraordinary and compelling reasons’ found in [§] 

1B1.13,” and therefore they must apply that definition when assessing motions for compassionate release. 996 F.3d at 1262. 

Likewise, Giron instructed that “the only circumstances that can 

rise to the level of extraordinary and compelling reasons for compassionate release are limited to those extraordinary and compelling reasons as described by [§] 1B1.13.” 15 F.4th at 1346 (emphasis added). Thus, our precedent directly contradicts Billingsley’s 

argument that district courts can identify extraordinary and compelling reasons for release outside of those contained in § 1B1.13.

Under the prior-panel-precedent rule, we are bound by the 

holdings of Bryant and Giron unless they have been “overruled or 

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undermined to the point of abrogation by the Supreme Court or 

by this court sitting en banc.” United States v. Archer, 531 F.3d 

1347, 1352 (11th Cir. 2008).

Billingsley argues that Bryant and Giron are not controlling

under our prior-panel-precedent rule for three reasons. First, he

argues that Bryant is inapplicable because it did not expressly determine whether § 3582(c)(1)(A) allowed district courts to find 

reasons for relief that are different from, but consistent with, 

those in § 1B1.13. Second, he contends that the relevant statement

from Giron—that the only circumstances compelling and extraordinary enough for compassionate release were those in 

§ 1B1.13—is mere dicta, as it was unnecessary under the facts of 

that case to hold that § 1B1.13 contained an exhaustive list of reasons for relief. Third, he says that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Concepcion v. United States, which emphasized the importance of judicial discretion in sentencing matters, runs contrary to Bryant and Giron. 142 S. Ct. 2389, 2396–2402 (2022). We address each argument in turn.

First, Bryant is on-point and controlling for this case. 

There, we held that district courts are bound by § 1B1.13 when 

assessing motions for compassionate release, “mean[ing] that 

courts may grant defendant-filed motions . . . but they must apply

[§] 1B1.13’s definition of ‘extraordinary and compelling reasons’” 

in doing so. 996 F.3d at 1262 (emphasis added). Consequently, by 

mandating the application of § 1B1.13’s definition of “extraordinary and compelling reasons,” Bryant leaves no room for a district 

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court to do what Billingsley requests—define other extraordinary 

and compelling circumstances that could justify compassionate 

release.3 See id.

Second, Giron’s pronouncement that § 1B1.13 lists the only

circumstances sufficient for compassionate release is not dicta; it 

is a holding that binds us. 15 F.4th at 1346. Billingsley correctly 

suggests that, in general, a proposition qualifies as a holding only 

when it is necessary to the judgment of a case. See United States 

v. Gillis, 938 F.3d 1181, 1198 (11th Cir. 2019).4 But, contrary to 

Billingsley’s assertions, the line concerning § 1B1.13’s exhaustiveness was essential to the panel’s ultimate decision. Giron, 15 F.4th 

at 1346. The statement functioned as an explicit rejection of two 

3 In arguing that Bryant is not on point, Billingsley states that “[a]ny language in Bryant that suggests or implies [that courts cannot find extraordinary or compelling reasons outside of § 1B1.13] is dicta, and dicta is not binding.” Appellant’s Br. at 14 (internal quotation marks omitted). However, it is 

difficult to square this argument with his admission that Bryant held § 1B1.13

to be applicable to all compassionate-release motions. Bryant explained that 

the language that mandates the use of § 1B1.13’s definition of “extraordinary 

and compelling reasons” serves as the panel’s explanation of what it meant

for § 1B1.13 to be “applicable” to § 3582(c)(1)(A). 996 F.3d at 1252–62.

4 Although it is generally true that a proposition must be necessary to the 

judgment of a case to qualify as a holding, we have also recognized that in 

some circumstances a statement may be afforded “holding status” even if it is 

not “strictly necessary” to a court’s ultimate decision. See United States v. 

Files, 63 F.4th 920, 926–27 (11th Cir. 2023). But we need not discuss that

“grey area” because, as explained above, the Giron statement at issue was 

plainly necessary to the court’s judgment. Id. at 927.

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arguments brought on appeal: (1) courts could independently assess whether reasons for compassionate release existed outside of 

those listed in § 1B1.13, and (2) medical reasons warranted relief.

Id. at 1345–47. The rejection of these two points was necessary to 

conclude that there were no compelling or extraordinary reasons 

for relief, which in turn, was necessary to affirm the district 

court’s decision to deny compassionate release. Id. at 1345–47, 50. 

Thus, the Giron panel’s conclusion that § 1B1.13 contained an exhaustive list of reasons for compassionate release was necessary to 

the final judgment in the case. It is not dicta.

Third, the Supreme Court’s decision in Concepcion did not 

overrule or abrogate our precedent that courts can grant compassionate release only for the reasons listed in § 1B1.13. “While an 

intervening decision of the Supreme Court can overrule the decision of a prior panel of our court, the Supreme Court decision 

must be clearly on point.” Archer, 531 F.3d at 1352 (internal quotation marks omitted). Applying this standard, we are not persuaded that Concepcion overruled or abrogated our decisions in 

Bryant and Giron. 

In Concepcion, the Supreme Court discussed the factors 

that a district court could consider when deciding sentencereduction motions for crack-cocaine convictions under § 404 of 

the First Step Act of 2018. 142 S. Ct. at 2401–04. The Court held

that when a district court was deciding whether to exercise its discretion and award an eligible defendant a sentence reduction, it 

could “consider other intervening changes of law . . . or changes 

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of fact,” reasoning that there were no statutory constraints in 

place that prevented district courts from doing so. Id. at 2396, 

2400. 

However, because Concepcion’s holding did not address 

compassionate-release motions, we cannot conclude that the decision overruled or abrogated our precedent in Bryant and Giron

about the types of circumstances that are extraordinary and compelling enough for relief under § 3582(c)(1)(A). Indeed, Concepcion recognized that for some sentencing matters, Congress “limited district courts to considering only certain factors” by “requiring [them] to abide by the Sentencing Commission’s policy 

statements”—citing § 3582(c)(1)(A) compassionate-release motions as an example where judicial discretion is “expressly cabined” by congressional decree. 142 S. Ct. at 2400–01. This differentiation shows that Concepcion is not “clearly on point.” Archer, 

531 F.3d at 1352 (internal quotation marks omitted). As a result, 

Concepcion did not overrule or abrogate our prior decisions regarding § 3582(c)(1)(A) and § 1B1.13. 

Thus, because our precedent forecloses the only argument

that Billingsley brings on appeal, and because that precedent has

not been overruled or abrogated, we must conclude that the district court did not err in denying Billingsley’s motion for compassionate release.

AFFIRMED. 

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