USA v. Colon, No. 23-1318 (7th Cir. 2024)
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Gustavo Colon, serving a life sentence for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise (CCE) in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(a), appealed the denial of his motion for a reduced sentence under § 404 of the First Step Act of 2018. The district court denied his motion on the grounds that Colon’s CCE conviction was not a “covered offense” under the Act.
Previously, Colon was found guilty of conspiring to distribute various drugs, engaging in a CCE, using a telephone in commission of his conspiracy, and distributing cocaine. The sentencing judge vacated Colon’s conspiracy conviction, determining that it violated the double jeopardy clause because conspiracy was a lesser-included offense of the CCE offense of which Colon was also convicted. The judge imposed a life sentence for the CCE conviction. In 2003, this court affirmed Colon’s conviction and sentence.
In 2021, Colon moved for a sentence reduction under § 404 of the First Step Act, which allows a court to reduce the sentence of a “covered offense”—that is, an offense that had its statutory penalties modified by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. The district judge denied the motion, concluding that Colon’s CCE conviction was not a “covered offense” because the Fair Sentencing Act did not modify 21 U.S.C. § 848(a).
The United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court's decision. The court concluded that a CCE conviction under § 848(a) is not a “covered offense” under the First Step Act because its penalties—twenty years to life imprisonment—were not altered by the Fair Sentencing Act. Therefore, Colon was not eligible for a sentence reduction under the First Step Act.
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