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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 19-14574
Non-Argument Calendar
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D.C. Docket No. 8:98-cr-00278-SCB-TGW-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
GREG BONAPARTE,
a.k.a. Bone,
Defendant-Appellant.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
________________________
(January 5, 2021)
Before JORDAN, JILL PRYOR and GRANT, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Gregory Bonaparte appeals the district court’s order denying his motion for
relief pursuant to § 404 of the First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-391, 132
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Stat. 5194. Bonaparte has filed a motion for summary reversal, which the
government does not oppose. After careful review, we grant Bonaparte’s motion.
Summary disposition is appropriate either where time is of the essence, such
as “situations where important public policy issues are involved or those where
rights delayed are rights denied,” or where “the position of one of the parties is
clearly right as a matter of law so that there can be no substantial question as to the
outcome of the case, or where, as is more frequently the case, the appeal is
frivolous.” Groendyke Transp., Inc. v. Davis,
406 F.2d 1158, 1162 (5th Cir.
1969). 1
Although district courts lack the inherent authority to modify a term of
imprisonment, a district court may modify a term of imprisonment when a statute
expressly permits the court to do so.
18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(B). The First Step
Act expressly permits a district court to reduce a previously imposed term of
imprisonment in certain circumstances. See First Step Act § 404(b). We review de
novo whether a district court had the authority to modify a term of imprisonment
under the First Step Act. United States v. Jones,
962 F.3d 1290, 1296 (11th Cir.
2020). We review for an abuse of discretion a district court’s denial of an eligible
movant’s request for a reduced sentence under the First Step Act.
Id.
1
In Bonner v. City of Prichard,
661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir.1981) (en banc), we
adopted as binding precedent all Fifth Circuit decisions issued before October 1, 1981.
2
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In 2010, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act to address disparities in
sentences for offenses involving crack cocaine and those involving powder
cocaine. See Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-220,
124 Stat. 2372;
Dorsey v. United States,
567 U.S. 260, 267–69 (2012) (detailing the history that
led to the enactment of the Fair Sentencing Act). The Fair Sentencing Act
increased the quantity of crack cocaine necessary to trigger a 10-year mandatory
minimum from 50 grams to 280 grams and the quantity necessary to trigger a 5-
year mandatory minimum from 5 grams to 28 grams. Fair Sentencing Act § 2; see
also
21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(iii), (B)(iii) (2011). Until recently, the Fair
Sentencing Act’s reduced penalties applied only to those defendants who were
sentenced on or after August 3, 2010, the Fair Sentencing Act’s effective date. See
Dorsey,
567 U.S. at 264.
In 2018, Congress passed the First Step Act, permitting “district courts to
apply retroactively the reduced statutory penalties for crack-cocaine offenses in the
Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 to movants sentenced before those penalties became
effective.” Jones, 962 F.3d at 1293; see First Step Act § 404. Section 404 of the
First Step Act authorizes a district court “that imposed a sentence for a covered
offense” to reduce a defendant’s sentence. First Step Act § 404(b). A “covered
offense” refers to a “violation of a Federal criminal statute, the statutory penalties
for which were modified by section 2 or 3 of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010.” Id.
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§ 404(a). The First Step Act authorizes a district court to “impose a reduced
sentence as if” the Fair Sentencing Act had been “in effect at the time the covered
offense was committed.” Id. § 404(b). The First Step Act further states that
“[n]othing in this section shall be construed to require a court to reduce any
sentence pursuant to this section.” Id. § 404(c).
In Jones, we considered the appeals of four federal prisoners whose motions
for reduction of sentence under § 404 had been denied in the district courts. See
Jones, 962 F.3d at 1293. We addressed when a movant was eligible for a sentence
reduction under the First Step Act. We began by explaining that a movant had to
have a conviction for a “covered offense.” Id. at 1298. A “covered offense” is a
crack-cocaine offense that triggered the higher penalties in § 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) or
(B)(iii). Id. To determine the offense for which a district court imposed a
sentence, we explained, a district court should consult the record, including the
movant’s charging document, the jury verdict or guilty plea, the sentencing record,
and the final judgment. Id. at 1300–01.
The government argued that in deciding whether a defendant committed a
“covered offense,” a district court should consider the specific quantity of crack
cocaine involved in the movant’s violation based on a finding of drug quantity
anywhere in the record “such as a finding that was necessary for determining only
relevant conduct under the Sentencing Guidelines.” Id. at 1301. We rejected this
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argument as inconsistent with the statutory text. Id. Rather, we explained, a
district court should consider only whether the quantity of crack cocaine satisfied
the specific drug quantity elements in § 841—in other words, whether his offense
involved 50 grams or more of crack cocaine, therefore triggering §
841(b)(1)(A)(iii), or between 5 and 50 grams, therefore triggering §
841(b)(1)(B)(iii). Id.
We concluded that any actual amount of drugs involved in the movant’s
offense beyond the amount related to his statutory penalty was not relevant to
whether he was convicted of a covered offense. Id. at 1301–02. But we
recognized that a judge’s actual drug-quantity finding remained relevant to the
extent that the judge’s finding triggered a higher statutory penalty. For movants
sentenced prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey,
530 U.S. 466 (2000)—where the Supreme Court held that facts, such as drug
quantity, that increased a defendant’s statutory maximum must be made by a
jury—the district court’s drug-quantity finding at sentencing was relevant to his
statutory penalty. See Jones, 962 F.3d at 1302. Applying this inquiry to the four
movants in Jones, we concluded that all four were sentenced for “covered
offenses” because they were all sentenced for offenses carrying penalties that were
modified by the Fair Sentencing Act. Id. at 1302–03.
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Next, we explained that the fact that a movant satisfied the “covered
offense” requirement did not necessarily mean that a district court was authorized
to reduce his sentence. Id. at 1303. Because § 404(b) of the First Step Act stated
that any reduction must be “as if sections 2 and 3 of the Fair Sentencing Act . . .
were in effect at the time the covered offense was committed,” there were two
additional limitations on a district court’s authority to reduce a sentence. Id.
(emphasis added) (quoting First Step Act § 404(b)). First, a district court could not
reduce a sentence when the movant already received “the lowest statutory penalty
that also would be available to him under the Fair Sentencing Act.” Id. Second, in
determining what a movant’s statutory penalty would be under the Fair Sentencing
Act, a district court was bound by a previous drug-quantity finding that could have
been used to determine the movant’s statutory penalty at the time of sentencing.
Id. Applying these limitations, we held that if a movant’s sentence necessarily
would have remained the same had the Fair Sentencing Act been in effect—that is,
if his sentence was equal to the mandatory statutory minimum imposed by the Fair
Sentencing Act for the quantity of crack cocaine that triggered his statutory
penalty—then the Fair Sentencing Act would not have benefited him, and the First
Step Act did not authorize the district court to reduce his sentence. Id.
Using this framework, we affirmed the denials of two of the movants’
motions in Jones. Id. at 1304. We vacated and remanded the denials for the two
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remaining movants because the district courts had authority to reduce their
sentences under the First Step Act, but it was unclear whether the court had
recognized that authority. Id. at 1304–05. We held that it was error for the district
courts to conclude that a movant was ineligible for a sentence reduction based on
(1) a higher drug-quantity finding that was made for sentencing—not statutory—
purposes, (2) a movant’s career-offender status, or (3) a movant’s sentence being at
the bottom of the guideline range. Id. at 1305. Because it was ambiguous whether
the district courts denied their motions for one of those improper reasons, we
vacated and remanded the denials for further consideration. Id.
Finally, we noted that, although a district court may have the authority to
reduce a sentence under the First Step Act, it is not required to do so. Id. at 1304.
When a movant is eligible for a sentence reduction, a district court has “wide
latitude” in deciding whether to exercise its discretion. Id. A district court may
consider the statutory sentencing factors set forth in
18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) as well as
a previous drug-quantity finding made for sentencing purposes only. Id. at 1301,
1304.
Here, there is no substantial question that the district court erred in finding
that Bonaparte was not eligible for relief under the First Step Act. Bonaparte had a
covered offense because he was sentenced for the offense of possessing with intent
to distribute 50 grams or more of crack cocaine. See Jones, 962 F.3d at 1303
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(holding that an offense involving 50 grams or more of crack cocaine was a
covered offense). But a movant’s satisfaction of the “covered offense”
requirement does not necessarily mean that a district court was authorized to
reduce his sentence; we must consider whether Bonaparte has already been
sentenced “as if” the Fair Sentencing Act had been in effect at the time of his
original sentencing. Id. Because Bonaparte was sentenced prior to Apprendi, we
look to the district court’s drug quantity amount that was found at sentencing when
determining what his statutory penalty range would have been under the Fair
Sentencing Act. Id. at 1302. Given the finding at sentencing that Bonaparte’s
offense involved 467.1 grams, his penalty range, if he had been sentenced under
the Fair Sentencing Act, would have been 10 years to life. See
21 U.S.C. §
841(b)(1)(A) (2011). Because Bonaparte’s sentence of 360 months’ imprisonment
was not the “lowest statutory penalty available” under the Fair Sentencing Act, he
has not been sentenced “as if” the Fair Sentencing Act had been in effect. Jones,
962 F.3d at 1303.
In short, there is no substantial question that Bonaparte is eligible for a
sentence reduction under the First Step Act and the district court erred in
concluding that Bonaparte was ineligible for relief under § 404 of the First Step
Act. Accordingly, we GRANT Bonaparte’s unopposed motion for summary
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reversal. On remand, the district court must consider whether to exercise its
discretionary authority to reduce Bonaparte’s sentence.
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