Opinion ID: 205890
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Retroactivity of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010

Text: On September 2, 2010, Orr filed a pro se supplemental brief, urging this court to apply the newly enacted Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 retroactively to his case, and remand his case to the district court for resentencing. Generally, we do not consider pro se arguments raised on appeal by defendants who are represented by counsel. United States v. Moore, 481 F.3d 1113, 1114 n. 2 (8th Cir.2007). In any event, our precedents foreclose Orr's argument on this point, and therefore he is not entitled to the retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 to his case. Orr was tried between August 11 and August 13, 2008, and subsequently sentenced on November 12, 2009, to life imprisonment for Count 1 (Conspiracy to Distribute 50 Grams or More of Crack Cocaine), a mandatory minimum sentence under the Controlled Substances Act, Orr's statute of conviction. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(b)(1)(A). On August 3, 2010, during the pendency of Orr's appeal, President Barack Obama signed into law the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (FSA), which reduced sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses, lowering the statutory sentencing ratio from 100:1 to 18:1. Pub.L. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372 (Aug. 3, 2010). Under the amended Act, the government would have had to prove Orr distributed 280 grams of crack cocaine instead of 50 in order to trigger a mandatory-minimum life sentence. Id. at § 2(a)(1). Orr now urges the court to retroactively apply this amendment to his case and remand for resentencing. The federal savings statute, 1 U.S.C. § 109, governs whether penal legislation that either decriminalizes previously criminal conduct or lessens the punishment therefor applies retroactively. The federal savings statute provides in pertinent part, that [t]he repeal of any statute shall not have the effect to release or extinguish any penalty, forfeiture, or liability incurred under such statute, unless the repealing Act shall so expressly provide, and such statute shall be treated as still remaining in force for the purpose of sustaining any proper action or prosecution for the enforcement of such penalty, forfeiture or liability. 1 U.S.C. § 109. The federal Savings Statute was enacted to overcome the common law rule that all pending prosecutions abate when a criminal statute is repealed. Martin v. United States, 989 F.2d 271, 273 (8th Cir. 1993) (citing Warden v. Marrero, 417 U.S. 653, 660, 94 S.Ct. 2532, 41 L.Ed.2d 383 (1974)). To that end, the Savings Statute conditions the retroactivity of federal penal legislation intended to decriminalize or lessen the punishment for previously criminal acts, on Congress's express provision within the legislation for its retroactive application. That the FSA is technically an amendment of the Controlled Substances Act, and not a repeal in toto, is of no moment, because this court has held that the general saving clause applies to both. Martin, 989 F.2d at 274. Thus, as we have previously recognized, Congress expressed no desire in the FSA that the law be applied retroactively, and consequently the federal Savings Statute clearly forecloses Orr's argument for retroactive application. See United States v. Brewer, 624 F.3d 900, 909 n. 7 (8th Cir. 2010) ([B]ecause the Fair Sentencing Act contains no express statement that it is retroactive, ... the `general savings statute,' 1 U.S.C. § 109, requires us to apply the penalties in place at the time the crime was committed.); see also United States v. Brown, 396 Fed.Appx. 328 (8th Cir.2010) (unpublished) (general savings statute, 1 U.S.C. § 109, requires application of penalties in place at time crime was committed unless new enactment expressly provides for its own retroactive application; Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 contains no express statement that it is retroactive and no such express intent can be inferred from its plain language.) (quoting United States v. Carradine, 621 F.3d 575, at 579-580 (6th Cir.2010)).