United States v. Jones

Case: 08-31190 Document: 00511085568 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/20/2010

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit FILED

April 20, 2010

No. 08-31190

Conference Calendar Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee v. WARREN D JONES,

Defendant-Appellant Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana USDC No. 3:98-CR-30019-1

Before SMITH, PRADO, and HAYNES, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:*

Warren D. Jones, federal prisoner # 09940-035, appeals the denial of his 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) motion to reduce his sentence based on the amendments to the crack cocaine Guideline. Although the district court reduced Jones’s sentence, the court denied Jones’s request to reduce his sentence below the amended guidelines range. Jones argues that, pursuant to United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), the district court had the discretion to depart from the amended guidelines range. He further argues that 28 U.S.C. § 994(u) does

Case: 08-31190 Document: 00511085568 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/20/2010

No. 08-31190 not grant the Sentencing Commission the authority to bind the district court’s discretion in § 3582 cases.

We review a district court’s decision whether to reduce a sentence under § 3582(c)(2) for an abuse of discretion, and its interpretation of the Sentencing Guidelines is reviewed de novo. United States v. Doublin, 572 F.3d 235, 237 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 130 S. Ct. 517 (2009). Booker is inapplicable to sentence reductions under § 3582(c)(2), and a district court cannot reduce a sentence below the minimum provided in the amended guidelines range. Id. at 238. Insofar as Jones challenges the reasonableness of his sentence at the bottom of the recalculated guidelines range, his argument is without merit. See United States v. Evans, 587 F.3d 667, 670-72 (5th Cir. 2009), petition for cert. filed (Jan. 28, 2010) (No. 09-8939). “The Booker reasonableness standard does not apply to § 3582(c)(2) proceedings.” Id. at 672.

AFFIRMED.