The First Step Act also known as Senate Bill 756 was signed into law on December 21, 2018.  The purpose of this blog post is to discuss the bills impact on sentences for federal drug and gun charges.   

Title IV of the First Step Act entitled “SENTENCING REFORM” outlines amendments made to existing federal statutes that have been put in place to enhance the penalties for certain crimes.  Some of the amendments are fairly straight forward and simply serve to reduce the mandatory minimum prison sentence that a defendant faces for having one or more prior felony drug convictions.  For instance, under the previous law a Defendant who was convicted of a federal drug offense under 21 U.S.C 841(b)(1)(A) was subjected to a mandatory minimum penalty of twenty (20) years in prison if the person had a prior felony drug offense.  The mandatory minimum penalty under 21 U.S.C 841(b)(1)(A) for someone with more than one (1) felony drug conviction was life in prison.  The First Step Act has reduced the mandatory minimum penalties to fifteen (15) years in prison for those with one (1) prior conviction and to twenty five (25) years in prison for those individuals with more than one conviction.

The First Step Act also changed the requirements for an enhancement under 21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(A)from simply having had a prior felony drug conviction to instead requiring an offender to have had a previous conviction for a  “serious drug offense” or “serious violent felony.”  Under 18 U.S.C.  924(e)(2) a serious drug offense is defined as an offense that “(A) the offender served a term of imprisonment of more than 12 months; and (B) the offender’s release from any term of imprisonment was within 15 years of the commencement of the instant offense.”   Conversely, the government can now file a sentencing enhancement even if the offender has never had a prior drug felony conviction if the offender has committed a “serious violent felony” as codified by 18 U.S.C. 3559(c)(2).  The list of crimes under this statute includes murder, robbery, and child molest.

The change in what constitutes an eligible conviction for purposes of an 841 enhancement has the potential to dramatically alter the possible range of penalties for individuals charged with federal drug crimes.

We will analyze some of the other areas of federal criminal law that will be impacted by the First Step Act in subsequent blog posts, but if you have been charged with a federal drug or gun charge, and have prior criminal convictions, it is imperative that you discuss your situation with an experienced federal criminal attorney to fully understand the impact the new law will have to you unique situation.