LITTLE ROCK -- Bobby Banks, a former gang leader in Little Rock who was convicted in 2006 of running a large drug-trafficking organization, was entitled last year to have his 55-year sentence reduced by 15 years, a federal appeals court said Thursday in affirming the reduction.

The three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis upheld an April 2019 ruling of U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes, who has since retired.

Holmes granted a request from Lisa Peters, chief federal public defender for the Eastern District of Arkansas, to apply the First Step Act of 2018 to Banks' case. It expanded the application of sentencing reductions that were first authorized in 2010 to counteract a sentencing disparity for crimes involving crack and powder cocaine.

The disparities stemmed from the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, passed during the national "War on Drugs" to strengthen drug penalties. Congress found that the 1986 law treated crack cocaine crimes 100% more severely than crimes involving the same amount of powdered cocaine, resulting in unwarranted sentencing disparities based on race.

The 2018 law created new avenues for people convicted under the 1986 law to seek sentence reductions.

Banks was convicted on Feb. 7, 2006, of conspiring to distribute more than 5 kilograms of powder cocaine and more than 50 grams of crack cocaine, among other crimes. He had operated three crack houses in Little Rock and was known as "Big C," which referred to his leadership of the 23rd Street Crips gang. He had been featured prominently in a 1994 HBO documentary titled Gang War: Bangin' in Little Rock.

Peters asked Holmes to reduce Banks' sentence to 20 years, but he said 40 years was appropriate based on current federal sentencing guidelines.

Peters appealed, seeking a further reduction, and the U.S. attorney's office in Little Rock cross-appealed, saying Banks wasn't eligible for a sentence reduction.

In 2006, sentencing guidelines recommended a life sentence for Banks, but U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr., now deceased, imposed a 55-year sentence instead.

The 8th Circuit panel consisted of U.S. circuit judges Steven Colloton of Des Moines, Iowa; Bobby Shepherd of El Dorado; and Ralph Erickson of Fargo, N.D.

NW News on 05/30/2020

Print Headline: Ruling upheld to cut 15 years off drug term

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Ruling upheld to cut 15 years off drug term - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette