Opinion ID: 196165
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Refusal to Depart.

Text: 165 As a general rule, a district court's refusal to depart, regardless of the suggested direction, is not appealable. United States v. Romolo, 937 F.2d 20, 22 (1st Cir.1991). There is, of course, an exception that applies if the record supports an inference that the sentencing court's failure to depart did not represent an exercise of factfinding or discretion, but was instead the product of a court's miscalculation about whether it possessed the authority to depart. United States v. Amparo, 961 F.2d 288, 292 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 224, 121 L.Ed.2d 161 (1992); accord United States v. Pierro, 32 F.3d 611, 618-19 (1st Cir.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 919, 130 L.Ed.2d 799 (1995). Appellant attempts to wedge his case within the dimensions of this exception on the ground that the sentencing court believed, erroneously, that it lacked discretion to impose concurrent sentences. This claim misconstrues the record. 166 In United States v. Quinones, 26 F.3d 213 (1st Cir.1994), we held that a court may deviate from U.S.S.G. Sec. 5G1.2 if, and to the extent that, circumstances exist that warrant a departure. Id. at 216. Although Quinones had not yet been decided when Judge Torres sentenced Saccoccia, we are satisfied that he understood this principle and anticipated our holding. 167 At the disposition hearing, appellant argued that the district court had authority under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3584(a) to depart downward and impose concurrent sentences on all counts notwithstanding the terms of U.S.S.G. Sec. 5G1.2. The court acknowledged that it possessed such authority, but it concluded (appropriately, we think) that because the guidelines required consecutive sentences in appellant's case, it could only impose concurrent sentences if the case satisfied the conditions for a downward departure, that is, if it found mitigating circumstances not considered by the Sentencing Commission. See U.S.S.G. Sec. 5K2.0. Discerning no such mitigation, the court eschewed a downward departure. In other words, the court realized that it could impose concurrent sentences as a specie of downward departure, cf. Quinones, 26 F.3d at 216 (authorizing the imposition of consecutive sentences as a specie of upward departure), but it chose not to do so because, in its judgment, the facts did not warrant a downward departure. 168 This ends our jaunt. Inasmuch as the district court correctly understood that it possessed the power to depart from the GSR but made a discretionary decision to refrain from exercising that power, we lack jurisdiction to address appellant's claim. See Pierro, 32 F.3d at 619 (explaining that a discretionary refusal to depart by a judge who recognizes his power, but who says, in effect, that the case before him is not sufficiently unusual to warrant departing, is not reviewable on appeal). 169