Reginald DeWayne Brown v. United States

A federal grand jury charged petitioner Reginald DeWayne Brown with two cocaine offenses involving five kilograms or more, each carrying a sentence of ten years to life. 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A). In exchange for Brown’s guilty plea and a stipulated sentence of 60 months, the government reduced the charges to remove the ten-year mandatory minimum: it filed a superseding information alleging the same two offenses but with a quantity of “500 grams or more,” each count carrying a sentence of five to forty years. 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B). The parties presented their agreement under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1)(C). The district court rejected it, and later rejected a second agreement stipulating to 72 months, because the stipulated sentences varied too far downward from the Sentencing Guidelines range of 130 to 162 months. But that range rested on the 11.58 kilograms of cocaine originally charged and subsequently attributed to Brown as relevant conduct. Brown withdrew his plea, stood trial on the original indictment, and was sentenced to 198 months. The question presented is: Whether a district court may reject a plea agreement through which the government has reduced the charges against a defendant on the ground that the stipulated sentence departs, without adequate justification, from the Sentencing Guidelines range for conduct that the government declined to charge.