Opinion ID: 2670563
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: second modification motion

Text: In November 2011, the Commission promulgated Amendment 750. This Amendment “revised the crack cocaine quantity tables in U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 to conform to the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010.” United States v. Glover, 686 F.3d 1203, 1204 (11th Cir. 2012). Later, Amendment 750 was also made retroactive, allowing sentence reductions under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). USSG App. C, Amend. 759. Base offense levels were lowered for certain quantities of crack cocaine offenses, and following the adoption of Amendment 750 Mr. Tellis’s base offense level under USSG § 2D1.1 was 34 instead of 38 originally, or 36 after Amendment 706. USSG App. C, Amend. 759 (2011); USSG § 2D1.1(c)(3). On November 10, 2011, Mr. Tellis moved to reduce his sentence pursuant to Amendment 750. The district court requested another supplemental PSR. This time Probation stated that Mr. Tellis was “not eligible for a sentence reduction because he was sentenced as a career offender.” The government opposed Mr. Tellis’s motion, arguing that: [w]hen the Court applied Amendment 706 in 2008, the offense level under the career offender guideline became the higher of the two and the Court reduced the defendant’s sentence in accordance with the new range as dictated by the career offender guideline. . . . When the reduction under Amendment 750 is applied and the 6 Case: 12-12596 Date Filed: 04/18/2014 Page: 7 of 11 amended base offense level is substituted for the original base offense level under the drug quantity table, the career offender level remains the higher of the two and, therefore, the guidelines range remains the same as in 2008. Mr. Tellis maintained “that the career offender guideline was not applied at his original sentencing, and thus cannot be applied in these proceedings.” The district court denied Mr. Tellis’s motion to reduce under Amendment 750, stating: “Defendant is not, however, eligible for further reduction because his career offender guideline range is now greater than the drug offense level.” Mr. Tellis timely appealed.