Dillon v. United States

In Dillon v. United States (2010) 560 U.S. 817, the court considered whether a two-step sentence modification procedure implicated the Sixth Amendment. (Dillon, at pp. 826-829.) The first step of the procedure was a determination of eligibility and the amount of the potential reduction. If the prisoner was eligible, the second step involved a determination of whether a reduction should be ordered. (Dillon, at pp. 826-827.) The court held that such a procedure did not implicate the Sixth Amendment because it did not lead to a "plenary resentencing" proceeding. (Dillon, at p. 827.) Since the original sentence remained statutorily authorized, the two-step procedure did not involve a change to the statutory maximum for the offense and therefore did not implicate the Sixth Amendment. (Dillon, at pp. 828-829.)