Opinion ID: 204447
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Downward variance in Douglas's sentence

Text: While the district court's use of the incorrect Guidelines section requires that we remand this matter for resentencing, the United States additionally claims that Douglas's sentence is substantively unreasonable because the district court relied upon an improper factorthe disparity between Douglas's and Campbell's sentences. Pursuant to section 5H1.4, Campbell received a downward departure equivalent to three offense levels because he had lung cancer. Although Douglas was not ill, the district court reduced his offense level by the same amount to avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities among defendants with similar records who have been found guilty of similar conduct. Sentencing decisions must be both procedurally and substantively reasonable. Gall, 552 U.S. at 51, 128 S.Ct. 586. Here, we need not address the substantive reasonableness of Douglas's sentence because it was procedurally unreasonable on two separate grounds. First, as we have already explained, the district court improperly applied the blackmail Guideline, resulting in a lower offense level and sentencing range. Cf. United States v. Rosenbaum, 585 F.3d 259, 265 (6th Cir.2009) (A sentencing court commits procedural error by failing to calculate (or improperly calculating) the Guidelines range. . . .). Second, the district court reduced Douglas's offense level by three points without an applicable section of the Guidelines to support the reduction. Cf. United States v. Goodman, 519 F.3d 310, 323 (6th Cir.2008). The court admitted that no departure [was] actually available, but reduced Douglas's offense level nevertheless so that it could give him a within-Guidelines sentence that was the same as Campbell's. When determining whether to vary downward from a properly calculated sentencing range, a district court may consider the sentencing disparity between co-defendants. See United States v. Presley, 547 F.3d 625, 631-32 (6th Cir.2008) (explaining that district courts may consider sentencing disparities between co-defendants if they so wish). However, reducing a defendant's offense level is a different animal entirely. It requires an applicable Guideline section, and here, while the disparity may have supported a downward variance, it did not support a reduction in Douglas's offense level.