Opinion ID: 2995189
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: This computation resulted in a

Text: guideline range of 235 to 293 months imprisonment. The court then heard statements from both counsel regarding the government’s sec. 5K1.1 motion. The prosecutor characterized Atkinson’s cooperation as virtually flawless in every respect and summed up by stating, the government requests a downward departure, but nonetheless requests a substantial sentence. The district court granted the government’s sec. 5K1.1 motion, holding that a proper departure would be a three-level reduction in the total offense level. The downward departure resulted in an adjusted guideline range of 168 to 210 months. The district court, noting the seriousness of his criminal conduct, sentenced Atkinson to 210 months of imprisonment. Atkinson again appealed. See United States v. Atkinson, 15 F.3d 715 (7th Cir. 1994). He argued that the district court had abused its discretion by not granting him a more substantial downward departure and had misapplied the Guidelines. Id. at 717. We rejected his arguments and affirmed the sentence imposed by the district court. Id. at 721. Subsequently, in January 1996, Atkinson filed a motion to vacate his sentence under 28 U.S.C. sec. 2255. The district court denied the motion, and we affirmed in an unpublished order. In 1999, Atkinson filed, pro se, a motion for re-sentencing under 18 U.S.C. sec. 3582(c)(2)/2 based on Amendment 516 to the 1995 Guidelines. At the time Atkinson was sentenced, the Guidelines equated one marijuana plant with 1000 grams of marijuana. Amendment 516 changed the weight equivalency of a marijuana plant from 1000 grams to 100 grams and applied retroactively. See U.S.S.G. sec. 1B1.10. The court gave the government thirty days to respond to the motion, and Atkinson was then given twenty days to reply. In its written response, the government did not oppose Atkinson’s motion and acknowledged the change in the Guidelines. However, it urged the district court to consider the terms and general intent of the plea agreement in making its sentencing determination. The government insisted that both parties were well aware that Atkinson would be sentenced to a substantial term of imprisonment in spite of his significant cooperation in several prosecutions. Also, the government pointed out that Atkinson’s previous sentence involved a discretionary downward departure for cooperation under U.S.S.G. sec. 5K1.1. Citing United States v. Wyatt, 115 F.3d 606, 610 (8th Cir. 1997), and United States v. Vautier, 144 F.3d 756, 761 (11th Cir. 1998), the government asserted that the district court was not obligated to honor its original departure, or award a proportionately equal departure. The government made known to the court that it had no objection to a re-sentencing of the defendant at the high end of the new guideline range (188 months), but object[ed] to any further departure from that range. The district court did not hold a hearing on the matter. Instead, on November 19, 1999, the district court ordered the Probation Office to prepare a memorandum outlining what the guideline range would have been had Amendment 516 been in effect at the time of Atkinson’s original sentencing. The probation officer, applying Amendment 516, determined that Atkinson’s base offense level would be 32. The memorandum then noted that two levels should be added pursuant to U.S.S.G. sec. 3B1.1(c), resulting in an adjusted offense level of 34. Finally, the probation officer determined that the offense level should be reduced by three levels for acceptance of responsibility under U.S.S.G. sec. 3E1.1(b), resulting in a total offense level of 31. Given Atkinson’s Criminal History Category of IV, the revised guideline range was 151 to 188 months imprisonment. In a written order dated December 28, 1999, the district court granted Atkinson’s request for re-sentencing. The order read in part as follows: The court has considered the fully briefed arguments of the parties and the expanded record and finds that had Amendment 516 been in effect at the time of sentencing the court would have imposed an executed sentence of One Hundred Eighty-Eight (188) months for [C]ount I and would not have imposed a fine as to Count I. The court further finds no reason to conclude that the original sentence should not now be modified consistent with this determination. . . . The Probation Officer is directed to prepare an amended judgment, identical in all respects with the judgment entered on February 5, 1993, except that the amended judgment shall provide for the imposition of an executed sentence of One Hundred Eighty-Eight (188) months for Count I and no fine for Count I. The relief to which Atkinson is entitled does not require a further in-court proceeding, but merely the ministerial re-creation and re-issuance of the final judgment. United States v. Tidwell, 178 F.3d 946 (7th Cir. 1999) . . . . (emphasis in original). The amended judgment was entered on January 4, 2000. Atkinson filed this timely appeal, and this court ordered that counsel be appointed to represent Atkinson on appeal./3