United States v. Darrel King

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

King ran a heroin distribution ring focusing on San Francisco housing projects between 1976 and 1980. California authorities arrested King in 1980 and charged him with first-degree murder and firearms crimes. King was convicted of these offenses in California state court in 1981 and was sentenced to serve twenty-seven years to life in prison. Later that same year, King was convicted of federal drug trafficking crimes and was sentenced to forty-five years of incarceration in 1982. King began serving his federal sentence in 2019 after completing his separate California sentence. Shortly thereafter, King directly filed a motion for compassionate release pursuant to § 3582(c)(1). His motion urged that compassionate release was appropriate because he is seventy-seven years old, highly vulnerable to COVID-19 while incarcerated in federal prison, and has a wife who is struggling with cancer. The district court denied this motion as procedurally improper because it had been filed by King, and he timely appealed.

II. STANDARDS OF REVIEW

We review de novo issues of statutory construction. United States v. Carey, 929 F.3d 1092, 1096 (9th Cir.…