United States v. Stephen Fritz ( 2015 )

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 15-6729
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff – Appellee,
v.
STEPHEN ALEXANDER FRITZ,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Big Stone Gap. James P. Jones,
District Judge. (2:13-cr-00002-JPJ-PMS-1)
Submitted: October 19, 2015 Decided: October 22, 2015
Before DUNCAN, AGEE, and WYNN, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Larry W. Shelton, Federal Public Defender, Brian J. Beck,
Assistant Federal Public Defender, Abingdon, Virginia, for
Apellant. Anthony P. Giorno, United States Attorney, Jean B.
Hudson, Assistant United States Attorney, Charlottesville,
Virginia, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Stephen Alexander Fritz appeals the district court’s order
denying his 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) (2012) motions for a sentence
reduction. We generally review an order granting or denying a
§ 3582(c)(2) motion for abuse of discretion. See United
States v. Goines, 357 F.3d 469, 478 (4th Cir. 2004). We review
de novo, however, a district court’s determination of the scope
of its authority under § 3582(c)(2). United States v. Dunphy,
551 F.3d 247, 250 (4th Cir. 2009). Here, the district court
correctly concluded that Fritz was not eligible for a sentence
reduction; because Fritz was sentenced as a career offender,
Amendment 782 to the Sentencing Guidelines, which reduced the
offense levels applicable to drug offenses, did not have the
effect of lowering his applicable Guidelines range. We
therefore affirm the district court’s order. We dispense with
oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are
adequately presented in the materials before this court and
argument would not aid in the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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