USCA11 Case: 19-14650 Document: 72-1 Date Filed: 12/06/2022 Page: 1 of 85 [PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 19-14650 ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus JULIAN GARCON, Defendant-Appellee. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 9:19-cr-80081-JIC-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 19-14650 Document: 72-1 Date Filed: 12/06/2022 Page: 2 of 85 19-14650 Opinion of the Court 2 Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, WILSON, JORDAN, ROSENBAUM, JILL PRYOR, NEWSOM, BRANCH, GRANT, LUCK, LAGOA, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges. WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, delivered the opinion of the Court, in which WILSON, JILL PRYOR, NEWSOM, LUCK, and LAGOA, Circuit Judges, join. ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge, filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. NEWSOM, Circuit Judge, filed a concurring opinion, in which LAGOA, Circuit Judge, joins. JORDAN, Circuit Judge, filed a dissenting opinion. BRANCH, Circuit Judge, filed a dissenting opinion, in which GRANT and BRASHER, Circuit Judges, join, and JORDAN, Circuit Judge, joins as to Part I, II, III.A, and III.B. BRASHER, Circuit Judge, filed a dissenting opinion. WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge: The question presented in this appeal of a grant of safety- valve relief is whether, in the First Step Act, the word “and” means “and.” The Act empowers a court to grant a criminal defendant relief from a mandatory minimum sentence, but that relief is available only if “the defendant does not have” “more than 4 criminal history points,” “a prior 3-point offense[,] . . . and . . . a prior 2-point violent offense.” 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f )(1) (emphasis added). Julian Garcon, who pleaded guilty to attempting to possess USCA11 Case: 19-14650 Document: 72-1 Date Filed: 12/06/2022 Page: 3 of 85 19-14650 Opinion of the Court 3 500 grams or more of cocaine with intent to distribute, has a prior 3-point offense but does not have more than 4 criminal history points or a prior 2-point violent offense. The district court concluded that Garcon remained eligible for relief under the Act because he did not have all three characteristics. We agree. Because the conjunctive “and” joins together the enumerated characteristics, a defendant must have all three before he is ineligible for relief. We affirm. I. BACKGROUND Julian Garcon was indicted in 2019 for attempting to possess 500 grams or more of cocaine with intent to distribute. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a), 846. The offense carried a statutory minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment. See id. § 841(b)(1)(B)(ii). Garcon pleaded guilty. At sentencing, Garcon asked the district court to apply the so-called “safety valve” of the First Step Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f ). Section 3553(f ) provides that, for certain crimes, including the crime Garcon committed, the sentencing court “shall impose a sentence pursuant to [the United States Sentencing] [G]uidelines . . . without regard to any statutory minimum sentence, if the court finds at sentencing” that the defendant satisfies each of five numbered subsections. See id. § 3553(f )(1)–(5). The first subsection—the requirement …
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