Federal Mandatory Minimums and the First Step Act in Georgia

## Federal law controls

A federal prosecution in Georgia is governed by federal statutes, sentencing rules, and Eleventh Circuit precedent. Georgia sentencing law does not alter a federal mandatory minimum. Common minimums arise in drug, firearm, and repeat-offender statutes, and the charging document can profoundly affect exposure.

A mandatory minimum generally limits a judge’s ability to sentence below the prescribed term. Guideline calculations still matter, but an advisory guideline range cannot authorize a sentence below a binding statutory floor without a recognized exception.

## The safety valve

The First Step Act expanded the federal drug **safety valve** in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f). If all statutory requirements are satisfied, a court may impose a sentence without regard to specified drug mandatory minimums.

Requirements concern criminal history, violence or weapon involvement, death or serious bodily injury, leadership role and continuing criminal enterprise issues, and truthful disclosure to the government. The defendant must provide all information and evidence concerning the offense and related conduct by the statutory deadline, even when the government already knows it.

Criminal-history eligibility has generated substantial litigation. In *Pulsifer v. United States*, the Supreme Court adopted a restrictive reading of the First Step Act’s criminal-history provision. Counsel must apply the current statute and binding precedent rather than relying on older summaries of the expansion.

## Substantial assistance

A government motion based on substantial assistance can provide another route below a mandatory minimum. Cooperation decisions carry safety, credibility, immigration, and strategic consequences. A defendant cannot assume that providing information guarantees a motion; agreements should be read carefully.

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(b) may allow a later reduction upon a government motion for substantial assistance after sentencing. This is distinct from safety-valve relief.

## Compassionate release

The First Step Act changed 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) so incarcerated individuals can seek compassionate release after satisfying the statute’s administrative-exhaustion route. Courts examine whether extraordinary and compelling reasons exist, whether a reduction is consistent with applicable policy, and how the Section 3553(a) sentencing factors apply.

Medical conditions, age, family circumstances, sentencing developments, rehabilitation, and combinations of factors may be relevant under current law. **Rehabilitation alone is not enough**, and compassionate release is not a general resentencing mechanism.

## Earned-time credits

Eligible prisoners may earn First Step Act time credits through evidence-based recidivism-reduction programs and productive activities. Credits may support earlier placement in prerelease custody or supervised release, subject to eligibility rules and Bureau of Prisons calculations.

Certain convictions make a prisoner ineligible to apply credits even if programming is completed. Disputes may require administrative remedies before judicial review.

## Retroactivity is provision-specific

The First Step Act is not wholly retroactive. Section 404 permits courts to consider reductions for certain “covered offenses” affected by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, subject to statutory limitations. Other changes apply only to offenses committed or sentences imposed after specified dates.

A motion requires analysis of the conviction statute, drug quantity findings, prior enhancements, sentence, earlier motions, and current precedent. Eligibility does not guarantee relief; courts retain discretion.

Georgia federal defendants should preserve charging papers, plea agreements, presentence reports, judgments, and Bureau records. Those documents determine which First Step Act provisions can realistically help.

*By Adrian Mitchell, Esq. This article provides general information, not legal advice.*