United States v. Hoskins, No. 19-2401 (8th Cir. 2020)
Annotate this CaseThe Eighth Circuit held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant relief under the First Step Act. The court rejected defendant's contention that the district court violated his right to a complete review and held that the district court's conclusion that defendant's initial sentence was sufficient but not greater than necessary to address the essential sentencing considerations was sufficient to satisfy the court that the district court had considered the parties' arguments and had a reasoned basis for exercising its own decisionmaking authority. Finally, the court held that Section 404 of the First Step Act does not require district courts to analyze the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) factors in making their decisions. In this case, there was no abuse of the district court's substantial sentencing discretion in denying defendant relief under the First Step Act.
Court Description: [Loken, Author, with Shepherd and Erickson, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. The district court did not abuse its discretion in determining that it would not grant Hoskins relief under the First Step Act; Hoskins's argument that district court's handling of the motion violated the Act's requirement of a "complete review" rejected; the First Step Act does not mandate that district courts analyze the Section 3553(a) factors in making their First Step Act decisions.
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