United States Court of Appeals

For the Eighth Circuit

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No. 21-1652

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United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Adrian Minnis, also known as Bo

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant

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Appeal from United States District Court 

for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis

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 Submitted: January 14, 2022

Filed: April 15, 2022

[Unpublished]

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Before SMITH, Chief Judge, WOLLMAN and ERICKSON, Circuit Judges. 

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PER CURIAM. 
Adrian Minnis appeals from the district court’s1

 denial of his motion for a

sentence reduction under § 404 of the First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-391,

132 Stat. 5194, 5222 (2018). We affirm. 

On March 31, 2006, Minnis pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and

possess with intent to distribute at least one kilogram of heroin, in violation of 21

U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A) and 846 (Count I), and possession with intent to

distribute an unspecified amount of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C.

§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C) (Count II). Minnis’s advisory Guidelines range was 360

months to life imprisonment. The court sentenced Minnis to 420 months’

imprisonment on Count I and a concurrent term of 240 months’ imprisonment on

Count II. Minnis appealed both his conviction and sentence. This court affirmed. See

United States v. Minnis, 489 F.3d 325, 334 (8th Cir. 2007). Minnis subsequently filed

unsuccessful post-conviction motions. 

On January 2, 2020, Minnis filed an amended motion to reduce sentence

pursuant to § 404 of the First Step Act. The district court denied the motion. Although

the district court concluded that Count I is a “covered offense” under the First Step

Act, it determined that Minnis was ineligible for a sentence reduction because Count

II was not a “covered offense.” R. Doc. 1354, at 4–5. Alternatively, the court

determined that “even if Count II were a covered offense under the FSA it would still

decline to reduce Minnis’[s] sentence.” Id. at 5. The district court determined that a

sentence reduction was not warranted in Minnis’s case after thoroughly considering

each of Minnis’s arguments. 

On appeal, Minnis argues that the district court (1) erred in determining that

his conviction under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C) does not qualify as a “covered offense”

1The Honorable Rodney W. Sippel, United States District Judge for the Eastern

District of Missouri. 

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under § 404 of the First Step Act; (2) erred by declining to re-analyze the sentencing

factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a); and (3) abused its discretion by declining to reduce

his sentence. 

Section 404 of the First Step Act makes retroactive certain portions of the Fair

Sentencing Act of 2010 that lowered the statutory penalties for certain offenses

involving cocaine base. Specifically, § 404 of the First Step Act applies to “a

violation of a Federal criminal statute, the statutory penalties for which were modified

by section 2 or 3 of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 . . . that was committed before

August 3, 2010.” Pub. L. No. 115-391, § 404(a), 132 Stat. 5194, 5222 (2018). It

“permits a district court to ‘impose a reduced sentence’ if an offender was previously

sentenced ‘for a covered offense.’” United States v. March, No. 20-2240, 2021 WL

5917781, at *1 (8th Cir. Dec. 15, 2021) (unpublished per curiam) (quoting Pub. L.

No. 115-391, § 404(b), 132 Stat. 5194, 5222 (2018)). 

Under § 404(a), “[a]n offense is ‘covered’ if its statutory penalties were

‘modified’ by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010.” Id. While “[t]he Fair Sentencing Act

altered the minimum and maximum penalties for certain cocaine offenses,”2 it did not

change “the statutory penalties for an offense under § 841(b)(1)(C).” Id. “Both before

and after 2010, the penalties for [Minnis’s] drug trafficking offense[] [in Count II]

were zero to twenty years’ imprisonment, a fine up to $1 million, or both, and a

period of supervised release.” Id.

Therefore, “the penalties for [Minnis’s] drug offense[] [in Count II] were not

‘modified’ by the Fair Sentencing Act, and th[at] offense[] [is] not ‘covered’ for

purposes of § 404 of the First Step Act.” Id. (citing Terry v. United States, 141 S. Ct.

2

“The Act increased the amount of crack cocaine required to trigger the

mandatory minimum penalties, and the corresponding maximum penalties, under 21

U.S.C. §§ 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) and (B)(iii).” Id.

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1858, 1862–63 (2021) (holding because Fair Sentencing Act did not modify statutory

penalties for § 841(b)(1)(C), a conviction under that section is not a “covered

offense” under the First Step Act)). We hold that the district court “correctly

determined that [Minnis] is not eligible for a reduction of sentence under the First

Step Act.” Id.

3

Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court. 

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3Because we hold that Minnis’s offense under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C) is not

a “covered offense” and therefore renders him ineligible for a sentence reduction, we

need not reach the remainder of his arguments. 

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