United States v. Williams, No. 10-1699 (6th Cir. 2012)
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Williams pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute, and conspiring to distribute, 50 grams or more of cocaine base, 21 U.S.C. 846, 841(a)(1), and 841(b)(1)(A). As part of his plea agreement, he agreed to cooperate. The mandatory minimum sentence for Williams’s offense was 120 months, of imprisonment. He had an offense level of 27 and a criminal-history category of III, for a Guidelines range of 87–108 months of imprisonment. However, because the mandatory minimum sentence for Williams’s offense was 120 months, the district court calculated his offense level as 28. In the Sixth Circuit, downward departures start with the mandatory minimum, “at the lowest level that gets you into [a] 120 [month sentence]. That’s 28.” Before sentencing, the government moved for a downward departure of two levels, 18 U.S.C. 3553(e) and USSG 5K1.1, because of Williams’s substantial assistance. The district court granted one level more than requested and varied further downward because of a policy disagreement with then-applicable crack cocaine guidelines, so that he was ultimately sentenced to 48 months. The Sixth Circuit vacated. The only permissible basis for a below-minimum
sentence is the defendant’s substantial assistance.
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