United States v. Piper, No. 15-3288 (10th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseIn 2012, a grand jury indicted Frank Sharron Piper, III for participating in a cocaine conspiracy and other related offenses. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 135 months in prison. Piper appealed the district court's denial of he motion for a sentence reduction based on retroactively applied Sentencing Guideline amendments. Piper argues the district court: (1) failed to address the policy arguments in his motion; (2) exceeded its statutory authority when it considered newly alleged presentencing conduct not addressed at the original sentencing; (3) made fact findings regarding a rap video he made (referencing those "who told on me" and "stop snitchin'") without holding a hearing; and (4) erroneously concluded Piper intended the video (posted online at YouTube) to be viewed by and construed as a threat to the cooperating witnesses. The Tenth Circuit found none of these arguments availing and affirmed the sentence.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.