Opinion ID: 184895
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Treatment of the 1994 Sentence as a Package

Text: 33 In conducting its 1998 resentencing, the district court explicitly relied on a sentencing package theory, noting that the intention in allowing the downward departure in 1994 was to achieve an overall sentence of 240 months rather than particular sentences on the component counts. The record supports the proposition that this was the court's original intention. In 1991, the judge, in response to the government's motion for reduction of sentence, noted on the record that he intended to grant the motion, but needed to work out the formula to accomplish the overall term of imprisonment desired. The fact that the court in 1991 expressed an intention of figuring out a formula yielding 25 years for Townsend, but ultimately chose a formula yielding 20 years, does not affect our analysis. The interpendence of the departures granted on the various counts is further illustrated by the court's observation in 1991 that there were nine counts, and they all have to be coordinated. Although this remark was made in discussing the sentence of codefendant Lewis, not Townsend himself, the remark is equally applicable to Townsend's sentence, since he and Lewis originally received identical sentences on identical counts. 34 In addition, a sentencing package theory is particularly appropriate given that the 1994 sentence was the result of a downward departure. Indeed, the fact that the existing sentence was the result of a downward departure makes it difficult to ascertain what exactly the district court would have done had it wanted only to correct the sentence by imposing a § 2D1.1(b)(1) adjustment. Townsend argues that the proper way of imposing a § 2D1.1(b)(1) adjustment on the remaining counts would be to reason backward, finding an offense level which corresponds to the 120-month sentence allocated to the non-924(c) counts after the 1994 departure, and then to apply a two-level adjustment. Unfortunately, this backward reasoning does not lead to a unique offense level, since a 120-month sentence falls within the sentencing range for more than one offense level. Below, appellant indicated that the offense level that most closely approximates the 120 months imposed on his remaining counts in 1994 is level 30, because that level provides for a sentence of 121 months at the bottom of the range. On appeal, he argues that the proper level is 28, which leads to a range of 97-121 months, or 29, with a range of 108-135 months. Neither the probation office's Memorandum nor the court adopted this backward-reasoning strategy, but instead recalculated Townsend's offense level under the Guidelines, leaving any downward departure to be imposed on the resulting sentence. This method resulted in an offense level of 38, or 40 if the § 2D1.1 enhancement were applied. 35 We are not persuaded that resentencing after a downward departure must proceed by the backward reasoning appellant would require. Indeed, we agree with the Eleventh Circuit that where the district court is sentencing outside the guidelines range, it is particularly important that the district court have discretion to reevaluate the entire sentencing package. Watkins, 147 F.3d at 1297. The amount of downward departure allowed by a sentencing judge is inevitably affected by the total sentence imposed, and the departure allowed on a given count will naturally depend on the departure allowed on other counts. Requiring a sentencing judge to retain the full downward departure originally allowed on a given count even when convictions on other counts are vacated could well make judges hesitant to give generous downward departures in the first instance. This is particularly the case here, where the judge apparently believed that all of the downward departure had to be applied to the non-924(c) counts to maintain the five-year statutory minimum on each of the § 924(c) counts. Appellant argues that in fact the judge could have departed below the statutory minimum on the § 924(c) counts, given the government's Rule 35 motion. However, that would not change the fact that the departure actually imposed on the non-924(c) counts was chosen in light of the term imposed on the § 924(c) counts.