Larry Williams v. United States

What are the scope and limits of a District Court’s discretion in denying an unopposed motion for sentence reduction under the First Step Act? Following this Court’s decision in U.S. v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005) and its progeny, in order for a district court to deviate from the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the court must mete out the applicable factors and elements for a departure or a variance and support its decision with a rational basis. The First Step Act’s sentencing reduction portion effectively sets new discretionary guidelines, in applicable cases, falling beneath a defendant’s original guidelines. It follows logically, then, that in order to deny a petition for resentencing under the First Step Act, particularly an unopposed one, a district court must mete out any applicable factors and elements for a departure or a variance and support its decision with a rational basis.