FI L ED
U.S. COURT OF APPEAL S

EL EVENTH CI RCUI T DECEMBER 10, 2009

THOMAS K. KAH

N
CL ERK [ D O N O T P U B L I S H ]

I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S C O U R T O F A P P E A L S

F O R T H E E L E V E N T H C I R C U I T

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

N o

. 0 9

- 1 1 4 5 5

N o n

- A r g u m e n t C a l e n d a r

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

D

. C

. D o c k e t N o

. 0 3

- 0 0 0 3 0

- C R

- 0 0 5

- C A R

- 5

U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A M E R I C A

,

P l a i n t i f f

- A p p e l l e e ,

v e r s u s

J A S O N W E L L S

,

D e f e n d a n t

- A p p e l l a n t

.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A p p e a l f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s D i s t r i c t C o u r t
f o r t h e M i d d l e D i s t r i c t o f G e o r g i a

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

( D e c e m b e r 1 0

, 2 0 0 9 )

B e f o r e C A R N E S

, H U L L a n d F A Y

, C i r c u i t J u d g e s

.

P E R C U R I A M :

J a s o n W e l l s , t h r o u g h c o u n s e l

, a p p e a l s f r o m t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t ’ s j u d g m e n td e n y i n g h i s s u c c e s s i v e p r o s e m o t i o n f o r a s e n t e n c e r e d u c t i o n u n d e r 1 8 U

. S

. C

.

§ 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 )

. W e l l s c o n t e n d s t h a t t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t d i d n o t s u f f i c i e n t l y e x p l a i n t h e 1

b a s i s o f i t s d e n i a l

.

“ W e r e v i e w a d i s t r i c t c o u r t ’ s d e c i s i o n w h e t h e r t o r e d u c e a s e n t e n c e p u r s u a n t

t o 1 8 U

. S

. C

. § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 )

, b a s e d o n a s u b s e q u e n t c h a n g e i n t h e s e n t e n c i n g

g u i d e l i n e s , f

o r a b u s e o f d i s c r e t i o n

. H o w e v e r , w h e r e t h e i s s u e p r e s e n t e d i n v o l v e s a

l e g a l i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , o u r r e v i e w i s d e n o v o

. ” U n i t e d S t a t e s v

. W i l l i a m s , 5 4 9 F

. 3 d

1 3 3 7

, 1 3 3 8

– 3 9 ( 1 1 t h C i r

. 2 0 0 8 ) ( q u o t a t i o n a n d c i t a t i o n s o m i t t e d )

.

T h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t ’ s o r d e r d e n y i n g W e l l s ’ m o t i o n f o r a s e n t e n c e r e d u c t i o n

s t a t e d t h a t t h e c o u r t h a d c o n s i d e r e d t h e p r o s e m o t i o n s f i l e d b y W e l l s , t h e m o t i o n s

f i l e d b y W e l l s ’ c o u n s e l

, a n d t h e f a c t o r s s e t f

o r t h i n 1 8 U

. S

. C

. § 3 5 5 3 ( a )

. W e l l s

c o n t e n d s t h a t t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t d i d n o t a d e q u a t e l y e x p l a i n i t s r e a s o n i n g

.

W e l l s i s n o t e l i g i b l e f

o r a s e n t e n c e r e d u c t i o n u n d e r § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 ) b e c a u s e h e

w a s o r i g i n a l l y s e n t e n c e d t o t h e s t a t u t o r y m i n i m u m o f 1 2 0 m o n t h s , e v e n t h o u g h h i s

g u i d e l i n e s r a n g e w a s 3 6 0 m o n t h s t o l i f e

. S e e 2 1 U

. S

. C

. § 8 4 1 ( b ) ( 1 ) ( A ) ( v i i i )

( p r o v i d i n g f

o r “ a t e r m o f i m p r i s o n m e n t w h i c h m a y n o t b e l e s s t h a n 1 0 y e a r s ” )

.

R e g a r d l e s s o f w h e t h e r A m e n d m e n t 7 0 6 r e d u c e d W e l l s ’ a p p l i c a b l e g u i d e l i n e r a n g e ,

Ba sed on our jurisdictional orde r issued on Aug ust 7, 2009, we have jurisdiction to 1 consider only

Wells’ appeal f

rom the district court’ s judgme nt deny ing his succ essive § 3582(c) (2) motion. We lack jurisdiction to consider a ny of his contentions about the district
court’s de nial of his initial § 3582(c)(2) motion.

2h e c o u l d n o t b e s e n t e n c e d b e l o w t h e s t a t u t o r y m i n i m u m

. S e e U n i t e d S t a t e s v

.

E g g e r s d o r f

, 1 2 6 F

. 3 d 1 3 1 8

, 1 3 2 0 ( 1 1 t h C i r

. 1 9 9 7 ) ( “ R e g a r d l e s s o f t h e g u i d e l i n e

a m e n d m e n t

, t h e l a n g u a g e o f t h e s t a t u t o r y m i n i m u m i s c l e a r a n d h a s b e e n u n a l t e r e d

b y C o n g r e s s

. T h e s t a t u t e c o n t r o l s i n t h e e v e n t o f a c o n f l i c t b e t w e e n t h e g u i d e l i n e

a n d t h e s t a t u t e

. ” ) ; s e e a l s o U n i t e d S t a t e s v

. C i s z k o w s k i

, 4 9 2 F

. 3 d 1 2 6 4

, 1 2 7 0 ( 1 1 t h

C i r

. 2 0 0 7 ) ( “ E v e n a f

t e r B o o k e r , t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t i s b o u n d b y t h e s t a t u t o r y

m a n d a t o r y m i n i m u m s

. ” )

. B e c a u s e t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t w a s b o u n d b y t h e s t a t u t o r y

m i n i m u m , e v e n i f i t d i d n o t p r o v i d e a n y d e t a i l e x p l a i n i n g w h y i t d e n i e d W e l l s ’ §

3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 2 ) m o t i o n , a n y c o n c e i v a b l e e r r o r i n t h a t r e g a r d w a s u t t e r l y h a r m l e s s

. C f

.

U n i t e d S t a t e s v

. R a a d

, 4 0 6 F

. 3 d 1 3 2 2

, 1 3 2 3 n

. 1 ( 1 1 t h C i r

. 2 0 0 5 ) ( h o l d i n g t h a t

b e c a u s e “ t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t c o r r e c t l y i m p o s e d t h e s t a t u t o r y m a n d a t o r y m i n i m u m

s e n t e n c e , a n y e r r o r i n t h e g u i d e l i n e s c a l c u l a t i o n s i s h a r m l e s s ” )

.

A F F I R M E D

.

3