Opinion ID: 619103
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Lance's Sentence

Text: Lance first argues that the district court erred in not retroactively applying the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (FSA) to his sentence. See Pub.L. No. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372. The FSA increased the quantities of crack that triggered various mandatory minimum sentences. This argument is foreclosed by this court's decision in United States v. Tickles, 661 F.3d 212 (5th Cir.2011), which held that the penalties prescribed by the FSA do not apply to federal criminal sentencing for illegal conduct that preceded the FSA's enactment. Id. at 215; see also United States v. Doggins, 633 F.3d 379, 384 (5th Cir.2011) (holding that the FSA does not apply retroactively to defendants who had already been sentenced and whose sentences were on appeal at the time the FSA was passed). Lance also argues that his life sentence was substantively unreasonable, and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. A review of Lance's sentencing hearing demonstrates that the district court took the § 3553(a) factors into account in determining Lance's sentence. Moreover, because the FSA does not apply retroactively, the district court correctly sentenced Lance to a mandatory life sentence on Count One under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(iii). Finally, as to Lance's constitutional claim, successful Eighth Amendment challenges to prison-term lengths will be rare, United States v. Harris, 566 F.3d 422, 436 (5th Cir.2009) (citations omitted), and this court has previously upheld mandatory life sentences imposed under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A), see, e.g., Harris, 566 F.3d at 436; see also Rummel v. Estelle, 445 U.S. 263, 272, 100 S.Ct. 1133, 63 L.Ed.2d 382 (1980) (Outside the context of capital punishment, successful challenges to the proportionality of particular sentences have been exceedingly rare.). The district court therefore did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Lance to life imprisonment.