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United States v. Garcia

Appellant's agreement stipulated to a minimum sentence of 240 months, unmoored from any guidelines calculation. When the sentencing guidelines for crack offenses changed, bringing down the high end of appellant's range, his negotiated minimum stayed put. But by reducing appellant's sentence to 240 months, the district court continued to execute the plea agreement as originally written, and the government and appellant got exactly what they had bargained for. 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 08-50458, 05-12-2010

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Before JONES, Chief Judge, and HIGGINBOTHAM and ELROD, Circuit Judges.

Through an agreement with the government, Marco A. Garcia pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 or more grams of cocaine and 50 or more grams of crack, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) & 846. The district court accepted the plea agreement — which provided for a minimum prison term of 240 months — and, after calculating Garcia’s guidelines range, sentenced him to 262 months. After retroactive implementation of the crack sentencing amendments, Garcia moved to reduce his sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). The district court granted the motion and changed Garcia’s sentence to 240 months, the minimum stipulated to in the plea agreement. Garcia appeals, urging that the district court erred in holding that the plea agreement prevented further reduction. After confirming the district court had jurisdiction to modify Garcia’s sentence, we affirm.

I.

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