Hicks

I. FACTS

Aaron Hicks was convicted and sentenced in 1993 for con- spiring to distribute crack cocaine and for maintaining a place for drug trafficking, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841, 843, 846, and 856, and 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 1028. Hicks was also convicted of using and carrying a firearm during and in rela- tion to a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). The Presentence Report (“PSR”) calculated a base offense level of 38. It was increased two points for his role in the conspiracy and two additional points for his possession of a firearm in the course of drug trafficking.1 Combining the 1 The latter enhancement would ultimately prove to be the catalyst for this appeal. UNITED STATES v. HICKS 325 adjusted offense level of 42 with Hicks’s Category I criminal history score yielded a Guideline range of 360 months to life. The PSR also recommended a consecutive 60-month sentence for the firearm violation. The district court adopted the PSR’s recommendations and sentenced Hicks, who was 22 at the time, to 420 months in prison.

At sentencing, the court noted its distaste for the length of the sentence imposed:

Mr. Hicks, it’s — I…