United States v. Taylor, No. 13-2978 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseTaylor was convicted in 2009 of conspiring to distribute crack, possessing and distributing powder cocaine, possessing a firearm as a felon, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, in 2005 and 2006. The court found that Taylor was responsible for 837 grams of crack and 396 grams of powder cocaine and noted Taylor’s responsibility for 227 kilograms of marijuana. Under the 2008 Guidelines, the drugs were together equivalent to 17,046 kilograms of marijuana, for an offense level of 36; Application Note 10(D) provided for a two-level reduction if a drug offense involved both crack cocaine and another controlled substance. Taylor’s base offense level was set at 34. Two levels were added for obstructing justice, yielding a range for the drug counts of 188 to 235 months. The court sentenced Taylor to concurrent terms of 180 months for those crimes, with a mandatory consecutive sentence of 60 months for possessing the gun in furtherance of a drug crime. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. In 2013 Taylor moved under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2) for a reduced sentence, arguing that Amendment 750, which made permanent and retroactive the temporary changes in Amendment 748, had reduced his base offense level to 32. The district court concluded that Taylor’s range had not been lowered, so that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The Seventh Circuit held that Taylor’s motion lacked merit, but that 3582(c)(2) did not limit subject-matter jurisdiction.
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