San Diego federal judges OK 99% of requests to cut drug sentences

New data shows federal judges in San Diego have granted all but one request in recent years to cut prison terms from inmates serving time for drug crimes.

The data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission shows that since 2014, when a new sentencing rule went into effect that changed the calculation judges make when handing out sentences in certain drug cases, San Diego federal judges have granted 317 out of 318 requests for a reduced sentence.

That’s a 99.7 percent rate, the highest of any federal district in California and one of the highest of all federal courts in the nation. Seven other courts granted all requests submitted.

The data contained in a report released Wednesday covers reductions reported to the commission through Sept. 30.

It also comes with a caveat — that some districts may not have reported all denials of requests that they have made. The report does not specify which districts may have submitted incomplete data.

The average cut in sentences granted by San Diego judges was 16 months. That was the lowest average of any of the four federal districts in California, which are based in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento.

The new sentencing rules change one factor — the “base offense level” — that judges use to calculate the total sentence for defendants in most drug cases. Adopted in 2014, the commission also made the rule retroactive, meaning people serving sentences calculated under the old rules could seek a lower term.

The new data shows 43,491 petitions to reduce sentences were submitted to courts nationwide, and 29,391 were granted — about 67 percent.

Cases involving methamphetamine accounted for 31 percent of all reductions, the highest percentage of any drug, followed by cases involving powder cocaine (28 percent) and crack cocaine (19.9 percent).

Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com