USA v. Robert McNeese, No. 15-5548 (6th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseMcNeese, a pharmacist, was charged with conspiring to distribute and distributing oxycodone, 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1), 846, and false recordkeeping, 21 U.S.C. 843(a)(4)(A). His written plea agreement recounted that McNeese had cooperated with authorities and had stipulated to distributing at least 15,850 oxycodone pills, which “converts to” 2999.925 kilograms of marijuana. Pursuant to FRCP 11(c)(1)(C), McNeese and the government agreed that a sentence of 63 months of imprisonment “takes into account the cooperation and assistance provided to law enforcement,” but did not mention the Sentencing Guidelines or any range of punishment. A probation officer calculated a sentencing range of 87-108 months. The court expressed concern that the agreed sentence might be inadequate, but accepted the agreement. In 2014, the Commission issued Amendment 782, which lowered the base offense levels for various drug crimes, including distributing oxycodone. Amendment 788 made Amendment 782 retroactive. McNeese moved to reduce sentence under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2), which allows a court to reduce a sentence if a defendant “has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment based on a sentencing range that has subsequently been lowered.” The Sixth Circuit affirmed denial of the motion. McNeese’s plea agreement made no mention of a Guidelines sentencing range, nor is it evident in any other way from the agreement that his sentence was based on such a range.
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