No. 17-155October Term 2017Decided Jun 4, 2018
Hughes v. United States
This case was about whether a federal defendant who accepted a plea deal for a specific sentence under Rule 11(c)(1)(C) can later ask for a reduced sentence when the Sentencing Commission lowers the applicable sentencing range.
Case status
- Current stage
- Decided
- Latest event
- Decision released Jun 4, 2018
- What it's about
This case was about whether a federal defendant who accepted a plea deal for a specific sentence under Rule 11(c)(1)(C) can later ask for a reduced sentence when the Sentencing Commission lowers the applicable sentencing range. The Court held that the sentence is generally "based on" the Guidelines if the Guidelines range was part of the framework the judge used in accepting the plea or imposing the sentence.
Question presented
1. Whether this Court's decision in Marks means that the concurring opinion in a 4-1-4 decision represents the holding of the Court where neither the plurality's reasoning nor the concurrence's reasoning is a logical subset of the other. 2. Whether, under Marks, the lower courts are bound by the four-Justice plurality opinion in Freeman, or, instead, by Justice Sotomayor's separate concurring opinion with which all eight other Justices disagreed. 3. Whether, as the four-Justice plurality in Freeman concluded, a defendant who enters into a Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(1)(C) plea agreement is generally eligible for a sentence reduction if there is a later, retroactive amendment to the relevant Sentencing Guidelines range.
- Case path
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit / Decision released Jun 4, 2018
- Area
Criminal Procedure
Timing
Decided June 4, 2018
The Court released its decision on June 4, 2018 without hearing oral argument.
Related cases
Grounding
- Grounding
- Primary-source trail available.
- Note
- Plain-English explainer. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.
- Checked
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Methodology