Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals - Published Opinions

Friday, February 13, 2009

Williams: 3582(c)(2) judgment reversed for failure to consider 3553(a) factors

In U.S. v. Williams, No. 08-11361 (Feb. 9, 2009), the Court reversed the denial of an 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) sentence reduction to a Georgia crack cocaine offender, because the district court at resentencing, in reducing sentence by less than the two-level offense level reduction authorized by the crack cocaine sentence reduction Amendment, failed to address the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors. The Court noted that the Guideline commentary required the Court to consider the factors in § 3553(a). So did Eleventh Circuit precedent. Accordingly, the Court vacated the judgment and remanded for resentencing.