United States v. Smith ( 2021 )

Case: 20-30136 Document: 00515808650 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/05/2021
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
No. 20-30136 April 5, 2021
Summary Calendar Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk
United States of America,
Plaintiff—Appellant,
versus
Jamie Smith,
Defendant—Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Louisiana
USDC No. 5:01-CR-50070-2
Before Jones, Barksdale, and Stewart, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam:*
In 2002, a jury convicted Jamie Smith of conspiring to possess, with
intent to distribute, five kilograms or more of powder cocaine, 50 grams or
more of crack cocaine, and marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. He
*
Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this
opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited
circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.
Case: 20-30136 Document: 00515808650 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/05/2021
No. 20-30136
was sentenced to, inter alia, a within-Sentencing Guidelines term of 360-
months’ imprisonment.
Smith moved in 2018 to reduce his sentence pursuant to the First Step
Act, Pub. L. No. 115-391, § 404, 132 Stat. 5194, 5222 (2018). The district
court granted Smith’s request, concluding Smith was eligible for relief under
the First Step Act and ordering his sentence be reduced to 300-months’
imprisonment.
The Government contends Smith’s conviction was not a “covered
offense” under the First Step Act because it included both crack cocaine and
powder cocaine, and the drug-quantity thresholds for powder cocaine were
not modified by the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act. We generally review for abuse
of discretion the decision to reduce a sentence pursuant to the First Step Act;
questions of law, such as the court’s determination turning on the meaning
of a federal statute, are reviewed de novo. United States v. Jackson, 945 F.3d
315, 319 (5th Cir. 2019), cert. denied, 140 S. Ct. 2699 (2020).
Our court recently held dual-object conspiracies, i.e. drug conspiracies
involving both powder and crack cocaine, qualify as covered offenses under
the First Step Act because the “statutory penalties for the crack-cocaine
object were modified by Section 2 of the Fair Sentencing Act”. United States
v. Winters, 986 F.3d 942, 950 (5th Cir. 2021); see Fair Sentencing Act of 2010,
Pub. L. 111-220, § 2(a), 124 Stat. 2372, 2372 (2010). Smith’s conspiracy
offense was committed before August 3, 2010, and is, therefore, a covered
offense under the First Step Act.
AFFIRMED.
2