United States v. Steven Flowers

── United States v. Steven Flowers ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Date: May 28, 2026 Category: General NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 26a0238n.06 No. 25-4006 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED May 28, 2026 KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk ) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ON APPEAL FROM THE ) UNITED STATES DISTRICT v. ) COURT FOR THE NORTHERN ) DISTRICT OF OHIO STEVEN D. FLOWERS, ) Defendant-Appellant. ) OPINION ) ) Before: MOORE, CLAY, and NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judges. KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. Steven Flowers moved for early termination of his eight-year term of supervised release. The district court denied Flowers’s motion, reasoning that his success on supervised release did not outweigh the serious nature of his offense, his criminal history, and his somewhat recent violation of the terms of his supervised release. For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM the district court’s order. I. BACKGROUND In 2004, Flowers was charged with possession with intent to distribute over 50 grams of crack cocaine. R. 9 (Indictment) (Page ID #20). Flowers pleaded guilty, and his Guidelines range was 262–327 months’ imprisonment, which was calculated using the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 4B1.1’s career-offender enhancement. R. 30 (Plea Agreement) (Page ID #77–84); PSR ¶¶ 23, 69. The district court sentenced Flowers to 262 months’ imprisonment and ten years of supervised release. R. 35 (Judgment at 2–3) (Page ID #100–01). The plea agreement included an No. 25-4006, United States v. Flowers enhancement for being a career offender under 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(b)(1)(A) and 851, because Flowers had been convicted of at least two prior offenses that, at the time, qualified as “felony drug offenses or offenses of violence.” R. 30 (Plea Agreement at 2, 4) (Page ID #78, 80). Flowers had an extensive criminal history, including convictions for forgery, driving under the influence, aggravated assault, attempted possession of drugs, unlawful gun possession, three convictions for drug trafficking, and four convictions for possession of drugs. PSR ¶¶ 29–43. In 2019, Flowers moved to reduce his sentence under the First Step Act. Specifically, he argued that he was no longer a career offender due to changes in Ohio law that meant his drug- trafficking offense that served as a career-offender predicate no longer qualified as a felony drug offense under the Guidelines. R. 39 (Mot. to Reduce Sentence at 8–9) (Page ID #117–18).1 The district court concluded that reducing Flowers’s sentence was not warranted because it “would have imposed” the same sentence regardless of the subsequent changes in the law. R. 45 (7/12/2019 Order at 3) (Page ID #183). The court also concluded that Flowers’s Guidelines range remained the same because the change in Ohio law was not retroactive. Id. at 4 (Page ID #184). The district court did, however, reduce Flowers’s term of supervised release from ten years to eight years. Id. at 2, 5 (Page ID #182, 185). In 2020, Flowers filed a motion for compassionate release due to the heightened risk he faced from COVID-19 and