DETROIT, MI — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated and remanded four reduced sentences issued under the First Step Act, finding that district courts may not reduce sentences for non-covered offenses such as murder, unless they were part of a sentencing package tied to a covered offense like a crack cocaine conspiracy.
Edward Dale, Gene Polk, John Gordon, and Gregory Brown, members of Detroit’s “Best Friends” gang, were convicted in the 1990s of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and multiple homicides tied to drug trafficking. Each originally received life sentences on both drug and murder charges, plus additional firearm sentences.
In 2018, the First Step Act allowed courts to retroactively reduce sentences for certain drug crimes involving crack cocaine. The district court reduced all four defendants’ life sentences, including those for murder, interpreting the Act to permit full resentencing when any covered offense was involved.
The government appealed, arguing the Act does not authorize reductions for the murder counts. The Sixth Circuit agreed in part, holding that sentences for non-covered offenses may only be reconsidered if they were part of an “interdependent” sentencing package with the drug charges.
The court clarified that a sentencing package exists when sentences are functionally linked and interdependent, often when grouped under sentencing guidelines or affected by mandatory consecutive terms. While acknowledging that sentencing discretion allows some flexibility, the court emphasized that reductions must still align with statutory authority.
The case was remanded for the district court to determine whether the murder sentences were imposed as part of a sentencing package with the drug conspiracy convictions. If not, the court lacks authority to reduce them.
