Hughes v. United States

The case asked whether a federal defendant who agreed to a specific sentence in a Rule 11(c)(1)(C) plea deal can later seek a shorter sentence when the Sentencing Commission lowers the relevant Guidelines range. The Court said the answer is generally yes when the Guidelines range was part of the framework the judge used to accept the plea or impose the sentence.

The Court decided the case on June 4, 2018, after argument on March 27, 2018, but the prompt does not provide the vote count or opinion lineup.

This affects federal prisoners who took plea deals for set sentences and later may benefit from retroactive guideline changes. For example, a person sentenced under a plea deal could ask for a reduction if the sentencing range used by the judge is later lowered.

Lower courts must apply this rule when deciding sentence-reduction requests in similar federal plea cases. Defendants still must show that the Guidelines range was part of the judge's framework in their own sentencing.

The dispute was whether a defendant with a plea deal for a specific sentence could later seek a reduction after a retroactive Guidelines change. It also raised confusion about how lower courts should read Freeman.

Federal defendants who accepted Rule 11(c)(1)(C) plea deals are most affected. Some can now ask for shorter sentences when the sentencing range used in court is later lowered.

Lower courts now use this rule in future sentence-reduction cases. Individual defendants still must show the Guidelines mattered in the judge's sentencing framework.