Opinion ID: 556611
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Bettina Jacobs Celifie's Sentence.

Text: 50 In sentencing defendant-appellant, cross-appellee Bettina Jacobs Celifie to a term of imprisonment of eighteen months, the district court downwardly departed twenty-three months from the applicable sentencing range. The government cross-appeals from that sentence, contending that the departure was improperly based on Celifie's acceptance of responsibility and on the request for leniency made by the jury in announcing its guilty verdict. We agree and remand to Chief Judge Platt for resentencing. 51 A sentencing court may downwardly depart if it finds an aggravating or mitigating circumstance of a kind, or to a degree, not adequately taken into consideration by the Sentencing Commission in formulating the guidelines. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3553(b) (1988). Whether a particular factor is a permissible ground for departure is a legal issue, which we review de novo. United States v. Joyner, 924 F.2d 454, 459 (2d Cir.1991); United States v. Barone, 913 F.2d 46, 50 (2d Cir.1990). Departure authority, though not designed to prevent a sentencing judge from exercising 'discretion, flexibility or independent judgment,' is nonetheless a device for implementing the guideline system, not a means of casting it aside. United States v. Joyner, at 460 (quoting United States v. Lara, 905 F.2d 599, 604 (2d Cir.1990)). 52 In the present case, the district court apparently believed that the two-point reduction awarded for Celifie's acceptance of responsibility, U.S.S.G. Sec. 3E1.1, did not adequately reflect the degree of her contrition. We do not foreclose the possibility that this rationale may, in an appropriate case, support a downward departure. However, in sentencing Celifie, the district court made no finding that the circumstances justified a departure for Celifie beyond the two-point reduction she received under the guidelines. 53 Moreover, the court erred in relying on the jury's recommendation of leniency for Celifie as a basis for downward departure. Sentencing decisions are solely the province of the judge. See United States v. Romo, 914 F.2d 889, 895 (7th Cir.1990); see also United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual, Introduction (Nov. 1990) (Pursuant to the [Sentencing Reform] Act, the sentencing court must select a sentence from within the guideline range.) (emphasis added). The jury's sympathy for Celifie may reflect circumstances that the court could appropriately consider in granting a downward departure. However, reliance on the jury's request for lenient sentencing treatment of Celifie, without more, is an insufficient basis to justify a downward departure.