Case Explained: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. WILLIAM HENRY THATCH, JR

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-06-15 The Fourth Circuit dismissed the appeal as moot because the appellant, William Henry Thatch, Jr., received an executive grant of clemency and was released from imprisonment while the case was pending in abeyance. The court applied the legal standard that a motion for sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) is limited to reducing the term of imprisonment; therefore, once a defendant is released from custody, there is no remaining sentence to reduce, rendering the appeal moot. As a practical consequence, the appeal was terminated without a decision on the merits of the sentence reduction motion, and oral argument was dispensed with. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.