Opinion ID: 6319463
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Chambers is convicted and sentenced.

Text: In the 1980s, Larry Marlowe Chambers and his brother ran an extensive and violent drug organization in Detroit. The organization employed hundreds of persons and operated over 200 houses for the sale of crack cocaine. In October 1988, Chambers was convicted of (1) conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, (2) possession with intent to distribute in excess of 50 grams of cocaine base (crack Case Nos. 21-1331/1378, United States v. Chambers cocaine), (3) engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise (“CCE”), (4) using or carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, and (5) income tax evasion. The PSR specified that the drug conspiracy involved one kilogram of base cocaine and five kilograms of cocaine. Counts 1, 6, and 15 for conspiracy, crack-cocaine distribution, and CCE “involve[d] the same general type of offense, and the Guidelines for the offense are determined primarily on the basis of the quantity of substance involved,” so they were grouped for sentencing. The resulting base offense level was 36. The PSR also described Chambers’s role as “a supervisor and leader” in the conspiracy, resulting in a four-level increase to offense level 40. The PSR designated Chambers as a career offender based on his extensive criminal history including several instances of burglary, robbery, grand larceny, assault, escape from confinement, theft of government property, arson, and drug crimes. He was placed in criminal history category VI. His guidelines range was 360 months to life. In March 1989, the district court sentenced Chambers to three concurrent terms of life imprisonment—one for conspiracy, one for distribution, and one for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise—and an additional five years of supervised release. Chambers appealed, and a panel of the Sixth Circuit remanded for the district court to vacate either the conspiracy or the CCE conviction to avoid double jeopardy. On remand, the district court vacated the conspiracy conviction and resentenced Chambers to two life terms for distribution of crack cocaine and CCE, in addition to supervised release and a fine. The Sixth Circuit affirmed that sentence and denied Chambers’s § 2255 motion. In 2008, Chambers filed a motion for sentence reduction based on amendments to the crack-cocaine guidelines. That motion was denied, and the Sixth Circuit affirmed. -2- Case Nos. 21-1331/1378, United States v. Chambers B. Congress passes the Fair Sentencing and First Step Acts. In 2010, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act, which “reduced the 100-to-1 ratio” between crack- and powder-cocaine offenses “to about 18 to 1.” Terry v. United States, 141 S. Ct. 1858, 1861 (2021); Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, Pub. L. 111-220, August 3, 2010, 124 Stat 2372. It did so “by increasing the amount of crack cocaine required to trigger those provisions’ penalties.” United States v. Foreman, 958 F.3d 506, 508 (6th Cir. 2020). The threshold increased “from 5 grams to 28 for the 5-year mandatory minimum and from 50 grams to 280 for the 10-year mandatory minimum.” Terry, 141 S. Ct. at 1861; § 2(a), 124 Stat. 2372. In 2018, Congress passed the First Step Act, which made the Fair Sentencing Act’s provisions retroactive, enabling incarcerated persons to petition for resentencing and compassionate release. First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. 115-391, Dec. 21, 2018, 132 Stat 5194. C. Chambers seeks compassionate release and First Step Act sentence reduction. In May 2019, Chambers filed a pro se motion for sentence reduction under § 404 of the First Step Act. Chambers filed a separate pro se motion for compassionate release in April 2020. The compassionate release motion was denied without prejudice for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, but the court did not yet rule on the motion for sentence reduction. On January 7, 2020, Chambers was appointed counsel. On January 8, 2021, the district court issued an opinion and order on the First Step Act motion stating that Chambers was eligible for sentence reduction on his crack-cocaine conviction, but ineligible on his CCE conviction. Chambers’s attorney then filed a motion to reconsider the ineligibility of his CCE conviction under the First Step Act and a renewed motion for compassionate release. On February 23, 2021, the court denied both motions. In doing so, the court declined to revisit its ruling on the ineligibility of the CCE conviction under the First Step Act, but stated that -3- Case Nos. 21-1331/1378, United States v. Chambers even if Chambers was eligible, the court would deny reduction based on its weighing of the same § 3553(a) factors it analyzed in denying compassionate release. The parties agreed that no further briefing on the § 3553(a) factors was necessary for the court to decide the First Step Act motion regarding the crack-cocaine conviction. On April 15, 2021, the court granted Chambers’s motion for sentence reduction on his crack-cocaine conviction, reducing his sentence on that count from life to 405 months—the top of the amended guideline range. In doing so, the court weighed the § 3553(a) factors and determined that “an upward variance . . . is no longer warranted.” R. 1649, P. 1854. Chambers appealed.