Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

Defendant was convicted of conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. On appeal, he challenged his 188-month sentence as substantively unreasonable. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in considering defendant's violent juvenile crimes; the increase in the criminal history category does not raise the issue of “unwarranted sentencing disparities” identified in United States v. Howard; the record does not support defendant's argument that the third sale was a replacement, nor would the district court have abused its discretion by basing the base offense level calculation on seven kilograms even if it did constitute a replacement; and the proper avenue for a request for application of Amendment 782 is a motion under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2), which would allow the district court to assess in the first instance whether and to what extent the amendment may affect defendant’s sentence. Accordingly, the court concluded that the sentence was substantively reasonable and affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. McCoy" on Justia Law