In United States v. Taylor, No. 19-12872 (Grant,
Marcus, Axon (N.D. Ala.)), the Court vacated the denial of a motion for a reduced sentence under Section 404 of the First Step Act.
The Court held that a dual-object drug conspiracy count including
both a crack and a powder element is a “covered offense.” Even though the Fair Sentencing Act did not
modify the statutory penalties for the powder offense, it did modify the
statutory penalties for the crack offense.
And that satisfied the “covered offense” definition in Section 404(a). The district court therefore had discretion
to reduce the sentence, though it is not permitted to conduct a plenary or de
novo re-sentencing proceeding, and it cannot reduce the sentence based on
changes in the law beyond those mandated by the Fair Sentencing Act.
