Opinion ID: 754615
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Family Responsibilities

Text: 113 Finally, Lerma-Lerma contends that before denying his request for a downward departure under USSG § 5H1.6, the district court should have considered whether such a departure was encouraged or discouraged by the guidelines. Koon v. United States, 518 U.S. 81, 116 S.Ct. 2035, 2045, 135 L.Ed.2d 392 (1996). On its face, section 5H1.6 discourages a departure: Family ties and responsibilities and community ties are not ordinarily relevant in determining whether a sentence should be outside the applicable guideline range. USSG § 5H1.6 (emphasis added). When a special factor is discouraged, the court should depart only if the factor is present to an exceptional degree or in some other way makes the case different from the ordinary case where the factor is present. Koon, 116 S.Ct. at 2045. 114 Although the court did not specifically discuss this factor, it did state concerning all of Lerma-Lerma requests: I've considered them, and I've exercised the Court's discretion, and the Court declines to depart. This was sufficient. 115 AFFIRMED.