United States v. Lloyd Bryson, Also Known as Young

In June 1996, Lloyd Bryson pled guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine. The applicable Sentencing Guidelines, when combined with Bryson’s criminal history, provided for a sentence of 135 to 168 months imprisonment for this crime (Guidelines offense level 31). The district court (Weinstein, J.) downwardly departed from offense level 31 to offense level 23, sentencing Bryson to 60 months imprisonment.

The United States appealed the sentence. In December 1998, this Court vacated the district court’s decision on the ground that the…