Pagan v. United States
- Cathy Seibel
- 7:17-cv-01444
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Pagan v. United States, Judge Seibel declined to resentence Pagan, vacated Counts 30 and 33, and said an amended judgment would follow.
Wilson Pagan’s federal convictions and sentences, particularly Counts 30 and 33; the United States is the respondent.
What happened
In Pagan v. United States, the parties addressed whether the court should hold a full resentencing and whether a First Step Act provision eliminating sentence “stacking” would apply. The opinion does not describe the parties’ responses in detail, but it says the court considered the government’s reasons for declining resentencing.
The court concluded that resentencing would not change the amount of time Wilson Pagan would serve. It said Pagan faced a mandatory minimum sentence of life plus 35 years if Counts 30 and 33 were simply vacated, or life plus 20 years if Counts 29 and 32 were also resentenced without stacking.
Judge Seibel declined to resentence Pagan, vacated the convictions and sentences on Counts 30 and 33 under the court’s earlier decision, and said an amended judgment would be entered. The court also said a certificate of appealability would not issue because Pagan had not made a substantial showing that a constitutional right was denied.
The detailed version
- Pagan v. United States · No. 7:17-cv-01444
- Cathy Seibel
- June 28, 2022
Background
This order concerns Wilson Pagan’s criminal case, No. 10-CR-392-1, and related civil case, No. 17-CV-1444. In an earlier order, the court directed the parties to address whether it should conduct a full resentencing and whether section 403(b) of the First Step Act would apply. Section 403(b) eliminated the requirement that certain convictions under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) be “stacked”—that is, used to impose successive additional sentences—when the convictions were obtained at the same trial.
Court’s analysis
The court recognized that it had discretion to vacate some or all sentences and conduct a new sentencing proceeding. It explained that it had done so in other cases when the sentences operated as an interdependent package and vacating one sentence made the remaining sentence inadequate. But the court found no reason to hold a proceeding that would have no practical effect on Pagan’s time in custody.
The court stated that Pagan faced a mandatory minimum sentence of life plus 35 years if the court simply vacated the convictions and sentences on Counts 30 and 33. Even if the court also resentenced Counts 29 and 32 without stacking, the resulting sentence would still be life plus 20 years. Because resentencing would not change the practical result, the court declined to decide the unsettled question of whether section 403(b) would apply at a new sentencing proceeding.
Disposition
Judge Seibel declined to resentence Pagan. The court vacated the convictions and sentences on Counts 30 and 33 in accordance with its previous decision and stated that it would enter an amended judgment reflecting that result. The court did not vacate the sentences on Counts 29 and 32 or order resentencing on those counts. It also ruled that a certificate of appealability would not issue because Pagan had not made a substantial showing that a constitutional right had been denied. The Clerk of Court was directed to docket the order in both case numbers.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.