United States v. Theresa Calton
Opinion
Theresa Calton was sentenced to 262 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. Calton filed two sentence-reduction motions under
I.
Theresa Calton sold crack cocaine to undercover police officers numerous times in 2009 and 2010. When officers attempted to arrest Calton, she fled in her vehicle, in which she then rammed a law enforcement vehicle, crossed several medians, and reached speeds of 80 to 100 miles per hour. She afterwards abandoned her vehicle and was later arrested. Calton pleaded guilty without a plea agreement to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance in violation of
At the sentencing hearing, the district court adopted the conclusions and factual findings of the PSR as modified or supplemented by the addendum. Thus, the district court concluded that Calton's total offense level was 34 and her Guidelines range was 262 to 327 months' imprisonment. The district court stated that it was "persuaded that [Calton's] sentence should be at the very bottom of the guideline range." Accordingly, the district court sentenced Calton to 262 months' imprisonment to be followed by five years of supervised release.
In December 2014, Calton, proceeding
pro se
, submitted a form motion for a sentence reduction pursuant to
We determined that Calton's notice of appeal was untimely filed.
United States v. Calton
, No. 15-10250 (5th Cir. June 16, 2015). However, we noted that Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(b)(4) allows the district court to grant an additional 30 days in which to file a notice of appeal "upon a finding of excusable neglect or good cause."
Calton then filed a second § 3582(c)(2) motion for sentence reduction pursuant to Amendment 782, which the district court denied for the same reasons stated in its denial of her initial motion. Calton timely appealed and moved for leave to proceed
in forma pauperis
(IFP). In our order granting Calton's motion for leave to appeal IFP, we concluded that "the district court erred by concluding that it lacked the authority to reduce Calton's sentence pursuant to § 3582(c)(2)."
United States v. Calton
, No. 15-10874, at 3 (5th Cir. Mar. 16, 2016). However, we also noted that Calton might be "procedurally barred from obtaining relief due to having previously filed a similar § 3582(c)(2) motion, ... or [by] the doctrines of res judicata or law of the case...."
Calton, still proceeding pro se , also filed in the district court a document styled as a "Motion Pursuant to [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure] 60." In her motion, Calton again objected to the district court's denial of her initial § 3582(c)(2) motion. The district court denied the Rule 60 motion, and Calton timely appealed. We consolidated Calton's appeal from the denial of her Rule 60 motion with her appeal from the denial of her second § 3582(c)(2) motion, appointed *710 counsel, and ordered supplemental briefing in this consolidated appeal.
II.
"[T]he district court's decision whether to reduce a sentence is reviewed for abuse of discretion," but a district court's conclusion that it could not reduce a sentence based on an interpretation or application of the Guidelines is reviewed
de novo
.
United States v. Doublin
,
III.
A.
"[E]very federal appellate court has a special obligation to 'satisfy itself not only of its own jurisdiction, but also that of the lower courts in a cause under review,' even though the parties are prepared to concede it."
Bender v. Williamsport Area Sch. Dist.
,
[I]n the case of a defendant who has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment based on a sentencing range that has subsequently been lowered by the Sentencing Commission ..., upon motion of the defendant ..., the court may reduce the term of imprisonment, after considering the factors set forth in section 3553(a) to the extent that they are applicable, if such a reduction is consistent with applicable policy statements issued by the Sentencing Commission.
We have determined that a district court may have jurisdiction to consider an initial § 3582(c)(2) motion.
See
Garcia
,
While we have not yet addressed whether a district court has jurisdiction to consider a successive § 3582(c)(2) motion, every sister circuit that has considered the issue has answered the question in the affirmative.
See
Weatherspoon
, 696 F.3d at 421 (determining that the district court had subject-matter jurisdiction to consider a successive § 3582(c)(2) motion because "congressional silence does not support an inference that Congress has 'clearly stated' its intent to limit a district court's jurisdiction to one § 3582(c)(2) motion");
United States v. May
,
Today we join all of our sister circuits that have considered the question and hold that district courts have jurisdiction to consider successive § 3582(c)(2) motions. This holding accords with the rule that "[i]f the Legislature clearly states that a threshold limitation on a statute's scope shall count as jurisdictional, then courts and litigants will be duly instructed.... But when Congress does not rank a statutory limitation on coverage as jurisdictional, courts should treat the restriction as nonjurisdictional in character."
Arbaugh v. Y&H Corp.
,
B.
We next consider our own jurisdiction over Calton's appeal from the denial of her successive § 3582(c)(2) motion. Calton argues that
The question of the proper basis for jurisdiction over appeals from decisions concerning § 3582(c)(2) motions-whether successive motions or initial ones-implicates a circuit split. At least five of our sister circuits have recognized that § 1291 provides a proper basis for appellate jurisdiction over § 3582(c)(2) determinations.
See
United States v. McGee
,
We join the Second, Third, Ninth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits and hold that
*713
§ 1291 provides the proper jurisdictional basis for reviewing appeals from denials of § 3582(c)(2) sentence-reduction motions.
6
The D.C. Circuit's reasoning in
Jones
is particularly persuasive: "Denials of sentence reductions are unquestionably 'final decisions of a district court' because they close the criminal cases once again."
C.
Having concluded that the district court had jurisdiction to consider Calton's successive § 3582(c)(2) motion and that we have jurisdiction to review the district court's final judgment denying her successive motion, we turn to consider whether Calton's appeal is procedurally barred. The government primarily argues that Calton's appeal is barred by two doctrines: res judicata and law of the case. In support of its argument that res judicata applies, the government points to our unpublished decision in
United States v. Harcourt
,
"Application of res judicata is proper only if the following four requirements are met: (1) the parties must be identical in the two suits; (2) the prior judgment must have been rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction; (3) there must be a final judgment on the merits; and (4) the same cause of action must be involved in both cases."
Russell v. SunAmerica Sec., Inc.
,
In
United States v. Alvarez
,
Having concluded that res judicata cannot bar Calton's appeal, we turn to the doctrine known as law of the case. Law of the case "applies to a single proceeding, and operates to foreclose re-examination of decided issues either on remand or on a subsequent appeal."
Pegues
,
Even assuming that the government has not forfeited any argument based on law of the case, the doctrine does not apply here because we have not previously decided whether Calton is eligible for a sentence reduction pursuant to Amendment 782. In an order granting Calton's motion to proceed IFP, we determined that "whether the district court erred in denying Calton's § 3582(c)(2) motion constitutes a nonfrivolous issue for appeal." United States v. Calton , No. 15-10874, at 3 (5th Cir. Mar. 16, 2016). However, we also noted that "[a]nother issue implicated in this appeal is whether Calton is procedurally barred from obtaining relief due to having previously filed a similar § 3582(c)(2) motion, ... or [by] the doctrines of res judicata or law of the case...." Id. at 3 (citations omitted). Because we have not previously decided whether Calton may obtain relief on her successive motion for sentence reduction, law of the case poses no bar. 7
D.
Having determined that no jurisdictional or procedural hurdle bars Calton's consolidated appeal, we now consider the merits. The government concedes that the district court erred in determining that *715 Calton was ineligible for a sentence reduction pursuant to Amendment 782. We indicated as much in our previous order allowing Calton to proceed IFP on appeal. See United States v. Calton , No. 15-10874, at 2-3 (5th Cir. Mar. 16, 2016). In denying Calton's second § 3582(c)(2) motion for sentence-reduction (the denial of which Calton timely appealed), the district court stated that Calton was "ineligible for a reduced sentence under Amendment 782" and denied her motion "for the same reasons enunciated in the order of February 24, 2015." In its February 2015 order, the district court determined that Calton was "sentenced as a career offender under the career offender provisions of USSG § 4B1.1 instead of the drug quantity provisions of USSG §§ 2D1.1 or 2D1.11" and thus Calton was ineligible for resentencing.
This was error. While the Probation Officer noted that the career-offender provisions of Guideline § 4B1.1(B) applied to Calton based on prior convictions, the Probation Officer later stated in the addendum to the PSR that because Calton's drug-quantity-based offense level was higher than her career-offender offense level, her Guidelines range would be based on drug quantity. Therefore, Amendment 782, which reduced by two levels most drug-quantity-based offense levels, applies to Calton's sentence.
See
Morgan
,
IV.
Accordingly, because no jurisdictional or procedural hurdle bars Calton's consolidated appeal and because the district court erred in determining that it lacked authority to reduce Calton's sentence pursuant to Amendment 782 of the Guidelines, we VACATE the district court's decision denying Calton's successive § 3582(c)(2) motion and REMAND for reconsideration of the motion. 8
Amendment 782, which became effective on November 1, 2014, "modified the drug-quantity table in Section 2D1.1 of the Guidelines by lowering most drug-related base-offenses levels by two."
United States v. Morgan
,
Whether a district court has jurisdiction to consider a
successive
§ 3582(c)(2) motion is distinct from whether § 3582(c)(2) 's requirements are jurisdictional.
See
United States v. Weatherspoon
,
Our holding that § 3582(c)(2) creates no jurisdictional bar to a successive sentence-reduction motion does not conflict with our holding in
United States v. Garcia
, as
Garcia
does not address whether district courts have jurisdiction to consider
successive
§ 3582(c)(2) motions where the statutory requirements are met. In
Garcia
, we concluded that the defendant could file an initial sentence-reduction motion under § 3582(c)(2) -where the plea agreement stipulated to a minimum prison term-because the district court sentenced him based on the Guidelines.
Another sister circuit has asserted jurisdiction to review § 3582(c)(2) determinations under both § 1291 and § 3742.
United States v. Purnell
,
In
United States v. Lightfoot
,
We do not reach the question of whether § 1291 or § 3742 (or both) provides jurisdiction to review a ruling that grants a § 3582(c)(2) motion and modifies the sentence, as the district court here denied both Calton's initial and successive § 3582(c)(2) motions (as well as her Rule 60 motion).
The government concedes that our rule in
Burnside v. Eastern Airlines, Inc.
,
Because we vacate the district court's judgment and remand for reconsideration of Calton's successive § 3582(c)(2) motion, we need not address Calton's alternative argument that we should recall the mandate in No. 15-10250, nor do we exercise our inherent power to recall the mandate here. See 5th Cir. R. 41.2.
In addition, because we remand for reconsideration of Calton's successive § 3582(c)(2) motion, we need not address the denial of Calton's Rule 60 motion, which concerns the same fundamental request for sentence reduction pursuant to Amendment 782.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Theresa CALTON, Defendant-Appellant.
- Cited By
- 76 cases
- Status
- Published