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Federal Career Offender: Section 4B1.1 Career Offender

(a) A defendant is a career offender if (1) the defendant was at least 18 years old at the time the defendant committed the instant offense of conviction; (2) the instant offense of conviction is a felony that is either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense; and (3) the defendant has at least two prior felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (c), if the offense level for a career offender from the table in this subsection is greater than the offense level otherwise applicable, the offense level from the table in this subsection shall apply. A career offender’s criminal history category in every case under this subsection shall be Category VI.

Offense Statutory Maximum Offense Level*
(A) Life 37
(B) 25 years or more 34
(C) 20 years or more, but less than 25 years 32
(D) 15 years or more, but less than 20 years 29
(E) 10 years or more, but less than 15 years 24
(F) 5 years or more but less than 10 years 17
(G) More than one year, but less than five years 12

*If an adjustment from Section 3E1.1 (Acceptance of Responsibility) applies, decrease the offense level by the number of levels corresponding to that adjustment.

(c) If the defendant is convicted of 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c) or Section 929(a), and the defendant is determined to be a career offender under subsection (a), the applicable guideline range shall be determined as follows:

  1. If the only count of conviction is 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c) or Section 929(a), the applicable guideline range shall be determined using the table in subsection (c)(3).
  2. In the case of multiple counts of conviction in which at least one of the counts is a conviction other than a conviction for 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c) or Section 929(a), the guideline range shall be a greater of:
    1. The guideline range that results by adding the mandatory minimum consecutive penalty required by the 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c) or Section 929(a) counts to the minimum and maximum of the otherwise applicable guideline range determined for the counts of conviction other than 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c) or Section 929(a) counts
    2. The guideline range determined using the table in subsection (c)(3)

(3) Career Offender Table for 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c) or Section 929(a) Offenders.

Section 3E1.1 Reduction Guideline Range for 924(c) or 929(a) Counts
No Reduction 360 to Life
2-Level Reduction 292-365