On Friday, May 17, 2013, in US v. Blewett, a split Sixth Circuit held that the reduced mandatory minimum crack sentences set out in the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) of 2010 must be applied even to those offenders who were sentenced before the Act’s effective date.

Crack Cocaine

As the majority opinion stated:

The Fair Sentencing Act was passed in August 2010 to “restore fairness to Federal cocaine sentencing” laws that had unfairly impacted blacks for almost 25 years. The Fair Sentencing Act repealed portions of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 that instituted a 100-to-1 ratio between crack and powder cocaine, treating one gram of crack as equivalent to 100 grams of powder cocaine for sentencing purposes. The 100-to-1 ratio had long been acknowledged by many in the legal system to be unjustified and adopted without empirical support. The Fair Sentencing Act lowered the ratio to a more lenient 18-to-1 ratio. However, thousands of inmates, most black, languish in prison under the old, discredited ratio because the Fair Sentencing Act was not made explicitly retroactive by Congress.

The majority opinion went on to hold that under the Fifth Amendment equal protection theory, the new crack sentences of the FSA should have a retroactive effect.

The opinion has already received a fair share of criticism, and most legal scholars and attorneys think it will be appealed and receive further review – either by an en banc panel of the Sixth Circuit (meaning all of the Sixth Circuit judges will hear the case) or the United States Supreme Court. But, as of now, all federal courts in the Sixth Circuit (Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, or Tennessee), must apply the Blewett precedent.

Therefore, still-imprisoned crack defendants who were sentenced in a federal district court in the Sixth Circuit before the FSA took effect (August 3, 2010) should contact a criminal defense attorney as soon as possible to discuss if they should file a motion to reduce their sentence to the mandatory minimum sentences under the FSA.

The Blewett decision is important to your case (or your loved one’s case) if:

• You were sentenced in federal court in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, or Tennessee before August 3, 2010. (The case does not apply if you were sentenced in state court).
• You were sentenced for a crack cocaine offense to the mandatory minimum sentence. Other drug offenses are not affected by this case.
• You are still serving your sentence.

US v. Blewett, No. 12-5226 (6th Cir. May 17, 2013) (available here).