Dismissal of appellee's motion for sentence reduction reversed

US v. Price, 44 F.4th ----, 2022 WL 3440347 (10th Cir. 2022) The Tenth Circuit reverses the district court’s dismissal of the appellee’s motion for a sentence reduction pursuant to the First Step Act of 2018. The parties agreed that Mr. Price was eligible for a reduction because he was convicted of distribution of cocaine, but disagreed on whether he had standing to make such a request because, back in 1998, when Mr. Price was sentenced, the district court determined the length of his sentencing by cross-referencing to first-degree murder under the then mandatory guidelines. The Tenth Circuit concluded that the district court had discretion to reduce Mr. Price’s sentence because Mr. Price was convicted of violating a covered offense and sentenced to life by the cross-reference to a non-covered offense of which he was not actually convicted. Moreover, because there was no statutory minimum for the murder cross reference, the district court could apply the traditional sentencing factors in further proceedings.