Koons v. United States

Under 18 U.S.C. § 3582 (c)(2), a defendant is eligible for a sentence reduction if he was initially sentenced "based on a *1787 sentencing range" that was later lowered by the United States Sentencing Commission. The five petitioners in today's case claim to be eligible under this provision. They were convicted of drug offenses that carried statutory mandatory minimum sentences, but they received sentences below these mandatory minimums, as another statute allows, because they substantially assisted the Government in prosecuting other drug offenders. We hold that petitioners' sentences were "based…