Opinion ID: 201238
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Amended Plea Agreement

Text: 16 In light of the information in the PSR about Colón's career offender status, Peña renegotiated the terms of Colón's plea with the government. The negotiations produced an amended plea agreement, which stipulated a drug quantity amount of four hundred to five hundred grams of cocaine, a smaller figure than the amount indicated in the original plea agreement (at least five hundred grams but less than two kilograms). As set forth in the amended plea agreement, this drug quantity resulted in a BOL of 24 under U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(8). The parties further agreed that Colón would receive the three-level downward adjustment for acceptance of responsibility for a TOL of 21. 17 Next, the amended plea agreement erroneously stated that [a]ssuming a Criminal History of VII, the sentence would be between fifty-seven (57) to seventy-one (71) months. The criminal history categories in the Guidelines do not exceed VI, and the sentencing range of fifty-seven to seventy-one months actually corresponds to a criminal history category of IV, which, leaving aside Colón's career offender status, would have been Colón's correct criminal history category. 18 However, the amended plea agreement went on to explain that the parties are aware based on the Pre-Sentence Report that the defendant is a Career Offender.... The amended plea agreement states that Colón's career offender status would result in a BOL of 29, a criminal history category of VI, and a Guidelines sentencing range of 151 to 188 months. While this criminal history category and Guidelines sentencing range are ultimately correct, Colón's total offense level, and not his base offense level, would be 29 once the three-level adjustment for acceptance of responsibility was incorporated. 7 The government then agreed to recommend a sentence at the lowest end of the Guidelines range.