Gonzalez-Rodriguez

ORDER DENYING MOTION TO REDUCE SENTENCE (18. USC § -3582(c)(2))

Ernesto Gonzalez-Rodriguez (“Gonzalez”) has filed a motion to reduce his 87-month sentence for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Ordinarily, a court' can’t change a sentence after it has been imposed. But 18 U.S.C. § 3582 (c)(2) creates an exception when a defendant was sentenced based on a sentencing range that is subsequently lowered by an amendment -to the United States Sentencing Guidelines (“USSG” or “Guidelines”). That’s what happened here. The Court, originally sentenced Gonzalez on July 30, 2012, relying on the Guidelines then in effect. About two years later, the U.S. Sentencing Commission approved Amendment 782 to the Guidelines, which lowered the sentencing ranges by 2 levels for most drug offenses — including Gonzalez’s offense. The Commission also voted to make the changes retroactive, which meant that Gonzalez could seek a reduction of his original sentence assuming he was eligible. But the Commission has imposed restrictions on a court’s ability to retroactively reduce a drug sentence, and Gonzalez’s motion hinges on them.

First, the Commission has decreed that a court may not…