USCA11 Case: 21-12877 Document: 50-1 Date Filed: 03/23/2023 Page: 1 of 9 [PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 21-12877 ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus PATRICK FREDERICK WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 2:03-cr-14041-KMM-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 21-12877 Document: 50-1 Date Filed: 03/23/2023 Page: 2 of 9 2 Opinion of the Court 21-12877 Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and HULL and MARCUS, Cir- cuit Judges. WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge: Patrick Williams argues that he is entitled to a reduced sen- tence under the First Step Act because his sentence of life impris- onment exceeds the 30-year statutory maximum for his offense. The district court denied Williams’s motion for a reduced sen- tence, and he argues that this denial was a per se abuse of discre- tion. But we disagree. Because the First Step Act never requires that a movant receive a reduced sentence, we affirm. I. BACKGROUND Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment for a 2004 con- viction for possessing between five and 50 grams of cocaine base. At the time of his conviction, that sentence was the statutory max- imum for his crime. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(iii) (2000) (allow- ing a life sentence for possession of more than five grams of cocaine base if the offender had a previous felony drug conviction). After we vacated his first sentence, see United States v. Williams, 609 F.3d 1168, 1169 (11th Cir. 2010), Williams received his current life sentence in 2010. The district court selected this sentence because of Williams’s denial of guilt—he alleged that there was a conspiracy to frame him—and, more importantly, because of his considerable criminal history. Williams’s criminal career began at age 13 with multiple thefts, including thefts of firearms. In between stints in juvenile and USCA11 Case: 21-12877 Document: 50-1 Date Filed: 03/23/2023 Page: 3 of 9 21-12877 Opinion of the Court 3 adult correctional facilities, Williams’s crimes steadily increased in gravity. He stole a car at age 15. At 18, he was convicted for vio- lently resisting arrest. He received his first cocaine-trafficking con- viction a year later. After he was released on probation for his drug conviction, Williams stormed into his girlfriend’s grandmother’s house and struck his girlfriend in the face. In 2007, before the re- sentencing relevant to this appeal, Williams was found guilty of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree mur- der for his role in a murder-for-hire scheme and received a life sen- tence. Congress enacted the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372, shortly before Williams’s relevant re- sentencing. The Fair Sentencing Act raised the threshold cocaine base quantity required to authorize a sentence of life imprisonment from five grams to 28 grams. Compare 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(iii) (2006), with 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(iii) (2012). Williams’s crime no longer triggered the drug-quantity sentencing enhancement, so the maximum sentence for his offense was …
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