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Together with the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Mississippi, Simpson Thacher represented an African American individual incarcerated in federal prison in appealing the denial of his motion for a sentence reduction under the First Step Act. The team argued that the district court had committed a significant procedural error by miscalculating the applicable Sentencing Guidelines range under the Fair Sentencing Act (FAIR). Although the Government had opposed our client’s motion before the district court, the Government agreed on appeal that the district court had erred. The Government acknowledged that our client’s 262-month sentence exceeded the FAIR-adjusted range of 188 to 235 months’ imprisonment. The Government moved to remand the case so that the district court could consider our client’s immediate release, as he had already served more than 190 months in prison. On remand, the district court resentenced our client to 188 months’ imprisonment. He has since been released from federal prison and has returned home to his family.

The Simpson Thacher team included Joshua A. Levine, Nihara K. Choudhri, Christine Mayberry, Eleanor Shingleton and former colleague Andrew Garber.