The Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Districts of Colorado and Wyoming has been appointed to represent all defendants who may be eligible for relief under a recently approved amendment to the United States Sentencing Guidelines, known as Amendment 782. The following information provides the answers to some basic questions about how the amendment works, and who may be eligible for relief. This information should not be considered a substitute for the information provided by the United States Sentencing Commission in the Amendment as written.
What the Amendment does
Amendment 782 proposes a change to § 2D1.1 and §2D1.11 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines. Once it is approved by Congress, the Amendment will generate a 2-level reduction in all offense levels found in §2D1.1 and §2D1.11 of the Guidelines, effective November 1, 2014. The Sentencing Commission has voted unanimously to apply this reduction retroactively.
After November 1, 2014, judges may begin to consider petitions for relief. However, any order granting relief will not go into effect until November 1, 2015. The Amendment does not afford relief for a defendant who is released prior to November 1, 2015.
This office is attempting to identify and review the sentences imposed in the cases of all defendants currently incarcerated and sentenced in the Districts of Colorado and Wyoming, pursuant to §§2D1.1 and 2D1.11.
Reductions pursuant to Amendment 782 are not automatic. District courts may but are not required to reduce a defendant’s sentence.
- Where the penalty was limited by a mandatory minimum, but the sentence imposed was subject to a reduction based on substantial assistance, or, “safety valve,” the amended guideline range will be calculated without regard to the operation of the statutory mandatory minimum sentence.
- Defendants whose sentences were reduced pursuant to previous amendments to the crack cocaine guidelines may still be eligible for relief under Amendment 782.
- The Amendment does not apply to sentences imposed as a result of violations of supervised release.
- The Amendment does not apply where the sentence imposed was calculated based on a base offense level of 43, the Career Offender guideline, or the Armed Career Criminal statute (18 U.S.C. § 924(e)).
UPDATE - Amendment 782 became effective on November 1, 2014
- We have written to every defendant we have identified as eligible for relief. Any defendant sentenced in the Districts of Colorado and Wyoming, who has not received a letter from me, and who believes he or she is eligible for relief, should contact this office.
- This office is appointed to represent only defendants sentenced in the Districts of Colorado and Wyoming. We cannot give advice to defendants sentenced in other districts.
- Orders granting relief will not be effective until November 1, 2015. This means that defendants scheduled for release prior to November 1, 2015, will not benefit from the 2-level reduction.
- Cases are being investigated chronologically, in order of release, beginning with those currently scheduled for release on November 1, 2015. Defendants who are currently scheduled for release first will be the first to have their motions filed.
- Defendants eligible for the 2-level reduction, and currently scheduled by the BOP for release between November 1, 2015, and December 31, 2017, will see their motions filed by March 31, 2015. All motions on behalf of all other defendants we have identified as eligible for the 2-level reduction will be filed by the end of August, 2015.
- Our offices will advise Defendants of the outcome of our investigation, and of the outcome of motions. Our offices will not answer inquiries about the status of individual cases.
- Terms of supervised release will NOT be effected by the 2-level reduction.
Eligibility for representation
To be eligible for representation by this office:
- The defendant must be currently incarcerated, serving, or scheduled to serve, a sentence imposed pursuant to § 2D1.1 and § 2D1.11 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines.
- The sentence must have been imposed in the United States District Court in the District of Wyoming, or, the United States District Court in the District of Colorado.
Contact Us
To hear a periodically updated recording by this office, please call 1-844-200-4FPD (4373).
You may also write to us at:
Office of the Federal Public Defender
633 Seventeenth Street, Suite 1000
Denver, CO 80202
