United States v. Antwan Coplen, No. 20-2654 (8th Cir. 2021)
Annotate this CaseCourt Description: [Per Curiam - Before Colloton, Benton, and Stras, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. The district court did not abuse its discretion when it declined to grant defendant an even greater First Step Act reduction. [ April 28, 2021 ]
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United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 20-2654 ___________________________ United States of America lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee v. Antwan Elvago Coplen lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Central ____________ Submitted: April 26, 2021 Filed: April 29, 2021 [Unpublished] ____________ Before COLLOTON, BENTON, and STRAS, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM. After considering a number of factors, the district court1 reduced Antwan Coplen’s life sentence to 360 months in prison under the First Step Act. See Pub. L. 1 The Honorable Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Iowa. No. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194 (2018). Though he challenges the decision on a host of grounds, we affirm. We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it declined to reduce Coplen’s sentence even further. See United States v. Harris, 960 F.3d 1103, 1106 (8th Cir. 2020) (articulating the standard of review). Nor is a motion like this one the proper way to challenge aspects of his original sentencing. See United States v. Moore, 963 F.3d 725, 728 (8th Cir. 2020) (explaining how motions under the First Step Act are different from “original, plenary sentencing” proceedings); see also United States v. Denson, 963 F.3d 1080, 1089 (11th Cir. 2020) (refusing to entertain an attack on the original sentence in a sentence-reduction proceeding under the First Step Act). We accordingly affirm the judgment of the district court, deny the pro se motion, and grant counsel permission to withdraw. ______________________________ -2-
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