SDNY Update: Judge Kaplan Finds Career Offender Guideline Range Too High, Imposes Sentence Based on Offense-Specific Guideline

Yesterday in the SDNY, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan found that the career offender guidelines overstated the seriousness of the offense in a case involving a conviction under 21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(C), and that a sentence within the career offender guideline range of 151-188 months would have resulted in a sentence greater than necessary to achieve the statutory sentencing objectives. Instead, Judge Kaplan imposed a sentence within the 30-37 month guideline range that would have applied, under U.S.S.G. 2D1.1, absent the career offender guideline. The case was United States v. John Cole, 15 Cr. 197 (LAK).