U.S. v. Taylor

Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion under 18 USC section 3582(c)(2) seeking reduced sentence on his conviction for drug trafficking. While Amendment 748 retroactively reduced marijuana/crack cocaine equivalence formula so as to reduce defendant’s base level offense from 34 to 32, Amendment 748 also struck Application Note 10(D), which effectively eliminated two-level decrease in offense level that defendant had received in his original sentence. As such, defendant was not entitled to reduced sentence where there was no net change in offense level arising out of retroactive application of Amendment 748. Ct. of Appeals, in disagreeing with Dist. Ct., found that Dist. Ct. had jurisdiction to resolve defendant’s motion even though defendant had failed to establish statutory criteria for sentence reduction under section 3582(c)(2).