Chattanooga--Chief Judge Curtis Collier ruled in US v. Toney Robinson, Docket No. 1:10-CR-66 that the Fair Sentencing Act applies to defendants whose offense occurred before August 4, 2010, and who are sentenced after that date. Judge Collier distinguishes the Sixth Circuit's Carradine opinion.
This means that defendants who are sentenced after the FSA's effective date will have the new guidelines and the new and greater mandatory minimum thresholds applied: 28 and 280 grams of crack rather than 5 and 50 to trigger the mandatory 5 and 10 year minimum terms of imprisonment.
The government objects to the court's position and has said so last week in sentencing hearings in open court. Many local lawyers suspect that this issue will go up to the Sixth Circuit for review soon.
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