United States v. James Michael Wilhoit

The appellant, James Michael Wilhoit, was convicted in 1987, pursuant to a guilty plea, of the crime of manufacturing methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1) (1970). He was sentenced to a term of eight years imprisonment, which was within the range of sentences authorized for convictions of manufacturing a schedule II controlled substance. See 21 U.S.C. § 812 (1970).

This is an appeal from the district court’s denial of his motion to correct his sentence under former Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(a), which is applicable to his 1987 conviction. In his Rule 35 motion, he contended that he should have been sentenced for manufacturing a schedule III controlled substance because methamphetamine was originally listed in 21 U.S.C. § 812 (1970) as a schedule III controlled substance.

Methamphetamine, however, by virtue of 21 C.F.R. § 1308.12 (d) (1973) (redesignated from 21 C.F.R. § 308.12 (d) (1971)) has been reclassified as a schedule II controlled substance. The reclassification was done pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 811 (1970), which expressly authorizes the Attorney General to make such reclassifications. The validity of this statute was challenged in United States…