United States v. Birt, No. 19-3820 (3d Cir. 2020)
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In 2001, Birt was arrested following a traffic stop. A state trooper found 186.5 grams of crack cocaine in the trunk. Birt was charged under 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1). Birt pled guilty. His plea agreement stated that “[t]he maximum penalty for [his] offense is imprisonment for a period of 20 years [and] a fine of $1 million dollars,” plus supervised release and collateral consequences, set forth in 21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(C). The district court imposed the 20-year maximum sentence, which the Third Circuit affirmed. In 2012, the district court reduced Birt’s sentence to 210 months under Amendment 750 to the Sentencing Guidelines. The Third Circuit affirmed.
Birt later sought resentencing under the First Step Act. The district court held that Birt was not convicted of a “covered offense” and was not entitled to relief. The Third Circuit affirmed. “Covered offenses,” under the First Step Act, are offenses that have had their penalty provisions modified by the Fair Sentencing Act. The penalties for Birt’s statute of conviction have not been modified, so the First Step Act has no applicability to Birt’s case. Birt’s statute of conviction is "a tight combination of subsections (a)(1) and (b)(1)(C) of section 841, not section 841(a)(1) in isolation or section 841 as a whole."
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