United States v. Wrenn

LYNCH, Circuit Judge.

After pleading guilty to both conspiring and attempting to possess with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, the defendant Joseph Wrenn was sentenced to the statutory minimum of 10 years prescribed by 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(ii). At issue here is the meaning of a provision in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (the “Act”), 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f), which, in certain circumstances, gives the trial court authority to impose a sentence shorter than the otherwise mandatory minimum sentence.

Wrenn argues that…