Opinion ID: 219844
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Crack/Powder Disparity at Sentencing

Text: Johnson argues that the district court committed a procedural error at resentencing by not expressly responding to his repeated requests for a 1:1 crack-to-powder ratio. We review de novo whether the district court followed proper sentencing procedures. United States v. Coopman, 602 F.3d 814, 817 (7th Cir.2010). We agree with Johnson that the district court erred. A sentencing court need not respond expressly to every argument a defendant makes, but it must address `all of a defendant's principal arguments that are not so weak as to not merit discussion.' United States v. Arberry, 612 F.3d 898, 899 (7th Cir.2010) (quoting United States v. Villegas-Miranda, 579 F.3d 798, 801 (7th Cir.2009)). At resentencing, the district court briefly discussed some of the factors in § 3553(a). But it never responded to Johnson's repeated requests for a reduced ratio. Johnson specifically referenced the district court's authority to reject and vary categorically from the crack-cocaine Guidelines based on a policy disagreement with those Guidelines, Spears v. United States, 555 U.S. 261, 129 S.Ct. 840, 844, 172 L.Ed.2d 596 (2009), listed policy grounds that have motivated other sentencing courts to apply a reduced crack-to-powder ratio, and asked multiple times for a reduced ratio. His argument for a reduced ratio was one of his primary contentions at resentencing and was certainly not so weak as to not merit discussion. See id. at 843-44; Kimbrough v. United States, 552 U.S. 85, 91, 110, 128 S.Ct. 558, 169 L.Ed.2d 481 (2007); Arberry, 612 F.3d at 899-901. In fact, numerous other judges in the Northern District of Illinois have applied lower ratios. See, e.g., United States v. Edwards, No. 04-cr-1090-5, slip op. at 6, 2009 WL 424464, at  (N.D.Ill. Feb. 17, 2009) (Gottschall, J.) (concluding that a 10:1 ratio is all that can possibly be justified in light of evidence that the harms produced by powder and crack are essentially the same (with the unquantifiable possibility that crack may be more addictive)); United States v. Rodriguez, No. 08-cr-509-1, slip op. at 4-5, 2009 WL 1811001, at  (N.D.Ill. June 23, 2009) (Darrah, J.) (applying a 20:1 ratio). Our holding in United States v. Arberry, 612 F.3d 898 (7th Cir.2010), is directly on point. In that case, we vacated a defendant's sentence and remanded for resentencing because the district court did not respond to the defendant's argument for a 1:1 ratio, which was one of his principal arguments at sentencing. Id. at 900-01. We disagree with the government's contention that Arberry is meaningfully distinct because the defendant in that case received a within-guideline sentence, albeit on the low end of the applicable guideline range, and Johnson received a below-guideline sentence. Id. at 899. Arberry applies because the district court there, as here, did not respond to a criminal defendant's principal, plausible argument for a reduced crack-to-powder ratio. The government points out that we wrote in United States v. Poetz, 582 F.3d 835 (7th Cir. 2009), that the requirement that the district court specifically address the defendant's principal, potentially meritorious sentencing arguments applies with less force where the judge received voluminous evidence and listened carefully to [the defendant's] arguments ... and in the end imposed a short prison sentence significantly below the applicable guidelines range. Id. at 837. Arberry 's force may be weakened, but it still applies. We also reject the government's argument that the district court implicitly addressed Johnson's request for a lower ratio. See, e.g., United States v. Carrillo-Esparza, 590 F.3d 538, 540 (7th Cir.2010); Poetz, 582 F.3d at 837-40. The government directs us to Poetz, which we find distinct because the record in that case demonstrated that the district court considered the defendant's arguments about her and her family's medical problems and the impact of incarceration as opposed to home confinement on her family, even though it did not expressly address each argument on the record. 582 F.3d at 837-40. Specifically, we explained that Poetz's health problems took center stage during sentencing, and the judge imposed a sentence substantially below the applicable guidelines range largely because of her medical condition. Id. at 838. We also found that the district court implicitly expressed that it believed imprisonment, as opposed to home confinement, was necessary based on a portion of the record where [t]he judge explained that despite Poetz's medical issues, a period of incarceration was `fundamentally required' to promote respect for the law, provide for deterrence, and hold Poetz accountable for her breach of the trust placed in stewards of public funds. Id. We concluded that `anyone acquainted with the facts would have known without being told why the judge had not accepted the argument.' Id. (quoting United States v. Cunningham, 429 F.3d 673, 679 (7th Cir.2005)). Finally, we explained that Poetz's argument about the effect of incarceration on her family lacked legal support and, regardless, we found that the district court implicitly considered her argument based on the fact that the judge had voluminous evidence before him substantiating the argument and [his] sentencing remarks [we]re peppered with references to [Poetz's] family. Id. at 839. Unlike in Poetz, the record provides no indication that the district court implicitly considered Johnson's argument for a reduced ratio. Although Johnson received a below-guideline sentence, we have no basis to conclude that his sentence had anything to do with the crack/powder disparity. To the contrary, it appears that the district court calculated Johnson's guideline range based on a 100:1 ratio and showed no receptiveness to his argument for a reduced ratio. We have no grounds to conclude that the district court applied a reduced ratio, as opposed to setting a below-guideline sentence based on a 100:1 ratio, or that the district court's decision to impose a below-guideline sentence was in any way related to the crack/powder disparity. We cannot assume that the district court implicitly considered Johnson's argument for a reduced ratio merely because it imposed a below-guideline sentence. Rather, we assume only that if the district court had applied a reduced ratio or decided to impose a below-guideline sentence based on the crack/powder disparity, it would have expressly or implicitly indicated as much on the record. Accordingly, we vacate Johnson's sentence and remand to give the district court an opportunity to consider and address his arguments for a reduced crack-to-powder ratio. The district court need not conduct a complete sentencing hearing, although, as we explain below, we invite it to do so. We reject Johnson's request for a broader remedy. Relying on Spears v. United States, 555 U.S. 261, 129 S.Ct. 840, 172 L.Ed.2d 596 (2009), he asks us to categorically prohibit the district courts in the Northern District of Illinois from using the 100:1 ratio based on policy considerations indicating the disparity's unfairness. But Spears does not authorize us to grant such relief. The Court in Spears wrote merely that  district courts are entitled to reject and vary categorically from the crack-cocaine Guidelines based on a policy disagreement with those Guidelines. Id. at 843-44 (emphasis added); see also United States v. Corner, 598 F.3d 411, 414-15 (7th Cir.2010). That authority resides in district courts, not courts of appeals. See Spears, 129 S.Ct. at 843-44; Kimbrough, 552 U.S. at 91, 110, 128 S.Ct. 558; see also Corner, 598 F.3d at 415 (We understand Kimbrough and Spears to mean that district judges are at liberty to reject any Guideline on policy groundsthough they must act reasonably when using that power.). The courts of appeals review sentences for procedural errors and substantive reasonableness, see, e.g., Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51, 128 S.Ct. 586, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007); United States v. West, 628 F.3d 425, 431 (7th Cir.2010), but we cannot categorically prohibit all sentencing courts from applying a 100:1 ratio. We thus reject Johnson's final argument related to the crack/powder disparity, that his sentence is unreasonable based on the fact that the district court did not apply a reduced ratio. As explained above, the district court had discretion to apply a 100:1 ratio and to impose a below-guideline sentence. We find no abuse of discretion.