United States Court of Appeals

For the Eighth Circuit

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No. 20-1892

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United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Anthony Norris Smith

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant

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Appeal from United States District Court 

for the Southern District of Iowa - Eastern

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Submitted: April 12, 2021

Filed: May 24, 2021 

[Unpublished]

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Before LOKEN, WOLLMAN, and STRAS, Circuit Judges. 

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PER CURIAM.

Anthony Norris Smith was indicted in 2008 on one count of conspiring to

manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute fifty grams and more of

cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A) and 846. The

government filed an information notifying Smith that he faced an increased term of

punishment because of his prior felony drug convictions. See id. § 851(a)(1). After
a jury convicted Smith of the conspiracy count, the district court1

 imposed the

statutory mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. See id. § 841(b)(1)(A) (2006). 

Because the district court was required to impose a life sentence, it did not rule on

Smith’s objection to the 3.5 kilograms of cocaine base attributed to him in the

presentence report (PSR). We affirmed Smith’s conviction and sentence. United

States v. Smith, 632 F.3d 1043 (8th Cir. 2011).

In 2019, Smith moved to reduce his sentence under the First Step Act of 2018,

which gives a district court discretion to reduce a sentence imposed for an offense

whose penalties were reduced by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. Pub. L. No. 115-

391, § 404(b), 132 Stat. 5194, 5222. For Smith, the Fair Sentencing Act reduced his

statutory penalty from life imprisonment to a range of ten years’ to life imprisonment. 

See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B); Pub. L. No. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372, 2372.

After determining that Smith was eligible for relief under the First Step Act,

the district court considered his argument that his sentencing range under the U.S.

Sentencing Guidelines should be based on the jury’s drug-quantity finding of fifty

grams and not on the 3.5 kilograms attributed to him in the PSR. The district court

concluded that “the evidence at trial fully supported the presentence report’s

attribution of 3.5 kilograms of crack cocaine to the defendant.” D. Ct. Order of Apr.

18, 2020, at 1. Smith’s base offense level was thus 34. With a total offense level of

38 and a criminal history category of IV, Smith’s Guidelines sentencing range was

324 to 405 months’ imprisonment. The district court reduced Smith’s sentence to 324

months’ imprisonment.

Smith argues that the district court abused its discretion in reducing his

sentence because it relied on a clearly erroneous drug-quantity finding to determine

1The Honorable John A. Jarvey, now Chief Judge, United States District Court

for the Southern District of Iowa.

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his base offense level. See United States v. McDonald, 944 F.3d 769, 771 (8th Cir.

2019) (“We review for an abuse of discretion the district court’s decision to grant or

deny an authorized sentence reduction.”). We disagree. A co-conspirator testified

at trial that Smith traveled from Iowa to Chicago twice per month to purchase cocaine

base and that Smith thereby obtained approximately fifteen ounces per month. The

government presented evidence that Smith and the co-conspirator distributed cocaine

base from April 2007 to January 2008. Because it had presided at trial, the district

court was in a position to make findings about the credibility of witnesses. We

conclude that it did not clearly err in finding that the conspiracy involved 3.5

kilograms of cocaine base and did not abuse its discretion in reducing Smith’s

sentence as it did.2 See United States v. Sherman, 960 F.3d 978, 981 (8th Cir. 2020)

(on appeal from the denial of a motion to reduce sentence, recounting evidence from

2004 trial and concluding that the drug-quantity evidence supported the district

court’s 2019 determination of defendant’s base offense level). 

 

The judgment is affirmed. We deny Smith’s pro se motion for leave to file a

reply brief.

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2Fifteen ounces (425.25 grams) per month for nine months is more than 3.5

kilograms. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines § 2D1.1, cmt. n.8 (one ounce equals

28.35 grams).

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