Appellate Case: 21-3156 Document: 010110622002 Date Filed: 12/21/2021 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT December 21, 2021 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. No. 21-3156 (D.C. No. 2:09-CR-20005-DDC-10) HUGO CHAVEZ-CADENAS, (D. Kan.) Defendant - Appellant. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT* _________________________________ Before MORITZ, BALDOCK, and EID, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Hugo Chavez-Cadenas, proceeding pro se,1 appeals the district court’s order denying his request for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i), as amended by the First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194. For the reasons explained below, we affirm. * After examining the brief and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. But it may be cited for its persuasive value. See Fed. R. App. P. 32.1(a); 10th Cir. R. 32.1(A). 1 We construe Chavez-Cadenas’s pro se brief liberally, but we do not act as his advocate. Yang v. Archuleta, 525 F.3d 925, 927 n.1 (10th Cir. 2008). Appellate Case: 21-3156 Document: 010110622002 Date Filed: 12/21/2021 Page: 2 Background In 2010, Chavez-Cadenas pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of a methamphetamine mixture, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A)(viii), and 846. Chavez- Cadenas’s original sentencing range under the United States Sentencing Guidelines (the Guidelines) was 360 months to life. The district court sentenced him to 360 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. The United States Sentencing Commission later retroactively amended the Guidelines range for Chavez-Cadenas’s offense, and Chavez-Cadenas sought and obtained a reduced sentence at the low end of his new Guidelines range, 292 months. See § 3582(c)(2) (providing that district “court may reduce the term of imprisonment” for “a defendant who has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment based on a sentencing range that has subsequently been lowered by the Sentencing Commission”). “Chavez-Cadenas’s projected release date is January 23, 2030.” R. vol. 1, 247. In January 2021, Chavez-Cadenas filed a motion seeking compassionate release under § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i) based on various medical conditions (including diabetes, hypertension, and obesity) that he contends place him at greater risk of complications if he were to contract COVID-19.2 In response, the government 2 This is Chavez-Cadenas’s fourth such motion since the start of the COVID- 19 pandemic. The district court denied Chavez-Cadenas’s first and third motions for failure to exhaust as required by § 3582(c)(1)(A). It rejected the second (which was the only motion Chavez-Cadenas filed with the assistance of counsel) after concluding that Chavez-Cadenas could not show extraordinary and compelling reasons and that the sentencing factors did not …
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals