{"id":672,"date":"2021-07-09T13:31:38","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T17:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sarasotacriminalattorneyblog.com\/?p=672"},"modified":"2024-08-29T15:27:23","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T19:27:23","slug":"florida-court-discusses-sentence-reductions-under-the-first-step-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sarasotadefenseattorney.com\/blog\/florida-court-discusses-sentence-reductions-under-the-first-step-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Court Discusses Sentence Reductions Under the First Step Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Drug crimes can result in serious penalties, and typically lengthier sentences are imposed for offenses involving certain classes of drugs. In recent years, though, flaws in the federal sentencing schemes were noted, and numerous laws were passed to address sentencing discrepancies, and people sentenced under prior laws may be eligible for reduced sentences. In a recent opinion, a Florida court discussed eligibility for a sentence reduction under the First Step Act in a case in which the trial court denied the defendant\u2019s request for a reduction. If you are charged with a drug offense, it is smart to meet with a Sarasota criminal defense attorney regarding your rights.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Procedural History of the Case<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is reported that in 2005, the defendant was charged with and found guilty of numerous drug crimes, including conspiracy to possess 50 grams or more of crack cocaine with the intent to distribute, in violation of federal law. Due to the amount of crack in his possession and his prior criminal history, he was sentenced to life in prison for the conspiracy charge. His total sentence was life in prison plus fifteen years, followed by ten years of supervised release. In 2019, the defendant sought a reduction of his sentence under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bop.gov\/inmates\/fsa\/overview.jsp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">First Step Act<\/a>. His sentence was reduced but he nonetheless appealed, arguing it should have been further reduced per the terms of the Act.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reductions of Penalties Under the First Step Act <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 2010, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act, which changed the statutory penalties for drug offenses involving crack cocaine, including the one for which the defendant was convicted. The amendments were not applied retroactively, though, until 2018, when Congress enacted the First Step Act. Specifically, the First Step Act provides that the Fair Sentencing Act is retroactive and granted courts the authority to reduce the sentences of eligible crack offenders if they deemed it appropriate. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sarasotadefenseattorney.com\/blog\/florida-court-discusses-sentence-reductions-under-the-first-step-act\/#more-672\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drug crimes can result in serious penalties, and typically lengthier sentences are imposed for offenses involving certain classes of drugs. In recent years, though, flaws in the federal sentencing schemes were noted, and numerous laws were passed to address sentencing discrepancies, and people sentenced under prior laws may be eligible for reduced sentences. In a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drug-crimes"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Florida Court Discusses Sentence Reductions Under the First Step Act &#8212; Sarasota Criminal Attorney Blog &#8212; July 9, 2021<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Drug crimes can result in serious penalties, and typically lengthier sentences are imposed for offenses involving certain classes of drugs. In recent &#8212; July 9, 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sarasotadefenseattorney.com\/blog\/florida-court-discusses-sentence-reductions-under-the-first-step-act\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Florida Court Discusses Sentence Reductions Under the First Step Act &#8212; Sarasota Criminal Attorney Blog &#8212; July 9, 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Drug crimes can result in serious penalties, and typically lengthier sentences are imposed for offenses involving certain classes of drugs. In recent &#8212; July 9, 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hanlon Law, PA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Florida Court Discusses Sentence Reductions Under the First Step Act &#8212; Sarasota Criminal Attorney Blog &#8212; July 9, 2021","description":"Drug crimes can result in serious penalties, and typically lengthier sentences are imposed for offenses involving certain classes of drugs. 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In recent &#8212; July 9, 2021","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hanlon Law, PA","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.sarasotadefenseattorney.com\/blog\/florida-court-discusses-sentence-reductions-under-the-first-step-act\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sarasotadefenseattorney.com\/blog\/florida-court-discusses-sentence-reductions-under-the-first-step-act\/"},"author":{"name":"Hanlon Law, PA","@id":"https:\/\/www.sarasotadefenseattorney.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/89615beb6980a63897b67886b5390081"},"headline":"Florida Court Discusses Sentence Reductions Under the First Step Act","datePublished":"2021-07-09T17:31:38+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-29T19:27:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sarasotadefenseattorney.com\/blog\/florida-court-discusses-sentence-reductions-under-the-first-step-act\/"},"wordCount":573,"articleSection":["Drug crimes"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.sarasotadefenseattorney.com\/blog\/florida-court-discusses-sentence-reductions-under-the-first-step-act\/","url":"https:\/\/www.sarasotadefenseattorney.com\/blog\/florida-court-discusses-sentence-reductions-under-the-first-step-act\/","name":"Florida Court Discusses Sentence Reductions Under the First Step Act &#8212; Sarasota Criminal Attorney Blog &#8212; July 9, 2021","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sarasotadefenseattorney.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-07-09T17:31:38+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-29T19:27:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sarasotadefenseattorney.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/89615beb6980a63897b67886b5390081"},"description":"Drug crimes can result in serious penalties, and typically lengthier sentences are imposed for offenses involving certain classes of drugs. 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