Opinion ID: 1272723
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Booker Variance on the Gun Count

Text: The district court erred by granting a conditional Booker [1] variance on the gun count's mandatory minimum sentence. The district court justified the variance by citing the desire to avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities among similarly situated defendants. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(6). However, neither Booker, Gall, nor § 3553(a) affect a statutory minimum sentence. See Williams, 474 F.3d at 1131; United States v. Vieth, 397 F.3d 615, 620 (8th Cir.2005). The Williams court discussed this topic at length: Nothing in the reasoning of Booker expands the authority of a district court to sentence below a statutory minimum. The Court's remedial holding provided that to cure the constitutional infirmity of the mandatory guidelines system, a district court is authorized to consider the factors set forth in § 3553(a), and to vary from the sentence otherwise indicated by the sentencing guidelines. But Booker did not question the constitutionality of statutory minimum sentences. . . . Because statutory minimum sentences remain constitutional, and it is constitutional for Congress to limit a court's authority to sentence below such minimums, the remedial holding of Booker does not impact the pre-existing limitations embodied in § 3553(e). Williams, 474 F.3d at 1132. Section 3553(e) governs when a sentencing court may impose a sentence less than the mandatory minimum. First, the title of § 3553(e)Limited authority to impose a sentence below a statutory minimumindicates that statutory minimum sentences [are] to be firmly enforced, subject only to carefully `limited' exceptions. Williams, 474 F.3d at 1132. Second, this section specifies when a sentencing court may sentence a defendant to less than the mandatory minimum: only so as to reflect a defendant's substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person who has committed an offense. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e); see Williams, 474 F.3d at 1132. Thus, when the district court granted a variance below the statutory mandatory minimum based on factors listed in § 3553(a)(6), it exceeded its limited authority under § 3553(e) to impose a sentence below the statutory. minimum. See Williams, 474 F.3d at 1132 (stating that a district court exceeds its authority by reducing a mandatory minimum sentence based on the history and characteristics of the defendant).