[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

________________________

No. 20-10660

Non-Argument Calendar

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D.C. Docket No. 1:03-cr-00684-TWT-AJB-1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff-Appellee,

 versus

CORRY THOMPSON, 

a.k.a. Larry Scott,

a.k.a. Corey Thompson,

a.k.a. Bobby Cook,

 Defendant-Appellant.

________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of Georgia

________________________

(February 17, 2021)

Before WILSON, LAGOA, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM: 

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Corry Thompson appeals the district court’s order reducing his sentence. 

The district court reduced Thompson’s sentence on counts for crack cocaine 

offenses pursuant to § 404 of the First Step Act,

1 but found that it lacked authority 

to reduce the sentence on his 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) counts.

2 Thompson timely 

appealed. Because we agree that the district court had no authority to reduce 

Thompson’s § 924(c) sentence, we affirm. 

Thompson was found guilty of several drug and firearm convictions on April 

25, 2005. He was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment, plus a 360-month 

consecutive sentence for his violation of § 924(c). On October 22, 2019, 

Thompson filed a motion for a reduced sentence under § 404 of the First Step Act. 

He requested a “full sentencing hearing” and argued that the “sentencing package 

doctrine” required the court to reassess his sentence on all counts and apply the law 

as it stands today. The government agreed that Thompson was eligible for relief 

under § 404 of the First Step Act, but otherwise disagreed with Thompson’s 

arguments. Accordingly, the district court granted Thompson’s motion and reduced 

his sentence for the drug counts from life to 180 months, consecutive to the 360 

months for the two § 924(c) counts. 

1 First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194 (First Step Act).

2 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A) prohibits the use or carrying of a firearm “during and in relation to 

any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime,” or in furtherance of such a crime. 

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Thompson concedes that § 403 of the First Step Act does not apply 

retroactively. Yet he alleges that the court imposed a new sentence when it granted

him relief under § 404. Thus, the court was permitted to apply the law as it

currently stands—specifically § 403 of the First Step Act which reduced the

enhanced penalty on § 924(c) convictions.

I.

We review for abuse of discretion a district court’s ruling on an eligible 

movant’s request for a reduced sentence under the First Step Act. United States v. 

Jones, 962 F.3d 1290, 1296 (11th Cir. 2020). But where the issue presented 

involves a legal question, our review is de novo. United States v. Pringle, 350 F.3d 

1172, 1178–79 (11th Cir. 2003). We also review de novo questions of statutory 

interpretation. United States v. Segarra, 582 F.3d 1269, 1271 (11th Cir. 2009) (per 

curiam). 

The Fair Sentencing Act, enacted on August 3, 2010, amended 21 U.S.C. 

§§ 841(b)(1) and 960(b) to reduce the sentencing disparity between crack and 

powder cocaine. Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372 

(Fair Sentencing Act); see Dorsey v. United States, 567 U.S. 260, 268–70 (2012) 

(detailing the history that led to the enactment of the Fair Sentencing Act, 

including the Sentencing Commission’s criticisms that the disparity between crack 

cocaine and powder cocaine offenses was disproportional and reflected race-based 

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differences). Section 2 of the Fair Sentencing Act changed the quantity of crack 

cocaine necessary to trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum from 50 grams to 280 

grams and the quantity necessary to trigger a 5-year mandatory minimum from 5 

grams to 28 grams. Fair Sentencing Act § 2(a)(1)-(2); see also 21 U.S.C.

§ 841(b)(1)(A)(iii), (B)(iii). These amendments were not retroactive to defendants 

who were sentenced before the enactment of the Fair Sentencing Act. United States 

v. Berry, 701 F.3d 374, 377 (11th Cir. 2012) (per curiam). 

In 2018, Congress enacted the First Step Act, which made the statutory 

penalties enacted under the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive for covered offenses. 

See First Step Act, § 404. Under § 404(b) of the First Step Act, a court “that 

imposed a sentence for a covered offense may . . . impose a reduced sentence as if 

sections 2 and 3 of the Fair Sentencing Act . . . were in effect at the time the 

covered offense was committed.” Id. § 404(b). The statute defines “covered 

offense” as “a violation of a Federal criminal statute, the statutory penalties for 

which were modified by section 2 or 3 of the Fair Sentencing Act . . . , that was 

committed before August 3, 2010.” Id. § 404(a). Only “crack-cocaine offenses for 

which [21 U.S.C.] sections 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) and (B)(iii) provide the penalties” 

qualify as “covered offenses.” Jones, 962 F.3d at 1300–01. The First Step Act 

further states that “[n]othing in this section shall be construed to require a court to 

reduce any sentence pursuant to this section.” First Step Act, § 404(c).

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Prior to the First Step Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) contained a “stacking” 

provision where, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction under § 924(c), a 

defendant was to be “sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 25 

years.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(C)(i). Section 403(a) of the First Step Act amended 

this language so that the 25-year mandatory minimum on a second § 924(c) 

violation only applies if the first § 924(c) conviction has become final. First Step 

Act § 403(a). But § 403(b) explained that the amendments only apply “if a 

sentence for the offense has not been imposed as of [the] date of enactment” of the 

First Step Act: December 21, 2018. Id. § 403(b).

II.

Thompson received a discretionary reduction; he was not entitled to a de 

novo resentencing. We held in United States v. Denson that there are limited 

situations in which a district court can modify a sentence under the First Step Act. 

963 F.3d 1080, 1089 (11th Cir. 2020). Specifically, a district court can only reduce 

a defendant’s sentence for a “covered offense.” Id. Moreover, the First Step Act 

does not authorize a district court to conduct a plenary or de novo resentencing

where it could: (1) reconsider sentencing guideline calculations unaffected by 

Sections 2 and 3 of the Fair Sentencing Act; (2) reduce the defendant’s sentence 

“based on changes in the law beyond those mandated by sections 2 and 3;” or (3) 

“change the defendant’s sentence on counts that are not ‘covered offenses.’” Id. 

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Accordingly, a full resentencing was not authorized here. And because the plain 

language of § 403 of the First Step Act prohibits retroactive application, the district 

court did not err when it determined that it lacked the authority to reduce 

Thompson’s sentence on his § 924(c) conviction.

Furthermore, the sentencing package doctrine does not apply. The doctrine

is a judicial practice that permits a district court to resentence a defendant on all 

counts of conviction where: (1) the defendant was sentenced on multiple counts, 

such that the overall sentence is a package of interrelated sanctions for all of the 

offenses; (2) one of the defendant’s convictions is subsequently vacated; and (3) 

the district court needs to “reconstruct the sentence package” so that that the 

overall sentence comports with the Sentencing Guidelines, the § 3553(a) factors, 

and the court’s opinion of a proper sentence for the remaining convictions. See 

United States v. Fowler, 749 F.3d 1010, 1015–16 (11th Cir. 2014). Here, the 

sentences were not so intertwined—the § 924(c) sentence was based on a statutory 

requirement. Therefore the package theory is not applicable. Accordingly, we 

affirm the district court’s determination. 

AFFIRMED.

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