Terry v. United States

Tarahrick Terry was convicted in 2008 of possessing crack cocaine and sentenced as a career offender. After the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 reduced penalties for crack cocaine offenses and the First Step Act of 2018 allowed retroactive relief for certain covered offenses, Terry sought a sentence reduction. The district court denied his motion, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari. On June 14, 2021, the Court unanimously held that Terry was not eligible for relief because his offense did not carry a statutory penalty modified by the Fair Sentencing Act; his sentence was based on the career offender guideline range, not the crack cocaine statutory range.

The Supreme Court affirmed the Eleventh Circuit, holding 9-0 that Terry was ineligible for a sentence reduction because his offense was not a covered offense under the First Step Act.

Whether a defendant convicted of a crack cocaine offense whose sentence was based on the career offender guideline, not the statutory penalty modified by the Fair Sentencing Act, qualifies for a sentence reduction under Section 404 of the First Step Act.

The decision limited the scope of retroactive sentencing relief under the First Step Act, affecting thousands of federal inmates seeking reductions for crack cocaine offenses. It clarified that only offenses whose statutory penalties were changed by the Fair Sentencing Act qualify, not those whose guidelines were affected.