Opinion ID: 170909
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Whether the departure factors relied upon by the district court remove the defendant from the applicable guidelines heartland thus warranting departure

Text: This second prong commingles factual and legal questions. In Jose-Gonzalez, we clarified that the determination of the heartland is a legal matter to the extent that it relies on interpretation of Guidelines language but a factual matter to the extent it relies on experience with the type of offense involved. Jose-Gonzalez, 291 F.3d at 704. Having laid out this distinction, the Jose-Gonzalez court concluded that the issue there  whether the number of deaths and injuries resulting from the offender's transportation of aliens warranted a departure  was one on which we should defer to the district court. Id. As this case is on all fours with Jose-Gonzalez, we apply the abuse of discretion standard. While U.S.S.G. § 2L1.1(b)(6) takes into account the fact that a person died, here, four of Munoz's passengers perished. The accident left another passenger without a leg, caused another passenger serious head trauma, and put another passenger in a coma. In light of this tragic toll, we hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in deciding that Munoz's case was outside the bounds of the typical cases embodying the conduct that [the] guideline describes. U.S.S.G. ch. 1, pt. A, intro. cmt. 4(b).