U.S. v. Douglas, 2009 WL 2244519 (July 29, 2009)
The defendant was sentenced to 188 months for crack-cocaine conviction and filed a motion to reduce his sentence under Amendment 709 to the Sentencing Guidelines. The District Court summarily granted the motion without a hearing or a response from the government. The court used a standard form order but did not mention 18 U.S.C. Section 3553(a) or the factors, nor did it explain its decision to sentence the defendant to 162 months-the high end of the recalculated guidelines. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the District Court’s refusal to grant defendant’s request for a sentence below the amended guidelines range, but vacated the newly imposed sentence and remanded back to the district court for further consideration of the Section 3553(a) factors and explanation.
