Opinion ID: 195501
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: departures from the guidelines

Text: 7 The basic theory behind the sentencing guidelines is that, in the ordinary case, the judge will apply the guidelines, make such interim adjustments as the facts suggest, compute a sentencing range, and then impose a sentence within that range. See 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3553(a), (b) (1988); see also United States v. Rivera, 994 F.2d 942, 946 (1st Cir.1993); United States v. Diaz-Villafane, 874 F.2d 43, 47-48 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 862, 110 S.Ct. 177, 107 L.Ed.2d 133 (1989). 8 Departures are the exception, not the rule. See Diaz-Villafane, 874 F.2d at 52. Thus, it is only in the extraordinary case--the case that falls outside the heartland for the offense of conviction--that the district court may abandon the guideline sentencing range and impose a sentence different from the sentence indicated by mechanical application of the guidelines. See Rivera, 994 F.2d at 947-48. One relatively common basis for departure arises when the court finds that there exists an aggravating or mitigating circumstance of a kind, or to a degree, not adequately taken into consideration by the Sentencing Commission in formulating the guidelines that should result in a sentence different from that described. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3553(b); see also U.S.S.G. Sec. 5K2.0 (implementing statute); see generally Rivera, 994 F.2d at 946; Diaz-Villafane, 874 F.2d at 49. 2 9 It is clear that the guidelines are intended to alleviate disparity in sentencing and to make it reasonably likely that similarly situated offenders will receive comparable punishments, regardless of where they are prosecuted or which judge presides at sentencing. See S.Rep. No. 225, 98th Cong., 2d Sess. 38, 51, 161 (1984), reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3182, 3221, 3234, 3344 (explaining need for sentencing guidelines [in] order to lessen the degree to which different judges impose[ ] different sentences in comparable cases); Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., The Death of Discretion? Reflecting on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, 101 Harv.L.Rev. 1938, 1944 (1988) (noting that sentencing reform came about largely in response to frequent criticism of the broad discretion afforded federal judges in sentencing [which] led to disparate treatment for similarly situated individuals); see also Rivera, 994 F.2d at 946; United States v. Aguilar-Pena, 887 F.2d 347, 352 (1st Cir.1989). Ensuring uniformity inevitably means restricting judicial discretion, for, as we have stated, [g]iving judges free rein to forsake the guidelines in cases falling within the heartland for a given offense would be tantamount to judicial repudiation of the Sentencing Reform Act and the important policies which propelled its enactment. Aguilar-Pena, 887 F.2d at 352. Consequently, while the power to depart offers judges a modicum of flexibility in criminal sentencing, this power can only be exercised for reasons that the guidelines themselves endorse. 10 In reviewing the legitimacy of departures from the guidelines, appellate courts are expected to engage in a tripartite analysis. See Rivera, 994 F.2d at 950-52; Aguilar-Pena, 887 F.2d at 350; Diaz-Villafane, 874 F.2d at 49. The first step requires an evaluation of the circumstances relied on by the lower court in determining that the case is sufficiently unusual to warrant a departure. Aguilar-Pena, 887 F.2d at 350. That question is one of law, evoking plenary appellate review shorn of deference to the court below. 3 See Diaz-Villafane, 874 F.2d at 49. 11 To guide judicial consideration of departures at this stage, we have suggested that a sentencing court should analyze a case along the following lines: 12 (1) What features of the case, potentially, take it outside the Guidelines' heartland and make it a special, or unusual case? (2) Has the Commission forbidden departures based on those features? (3) If not, has the Commission encouraged departures based on those features? (4) If not, has the Commission discouraged departures based on those features? 13 Rivera, 994 F.2d at 949. If the case is not special or unusual--a condition which, for simplicity's sake, we shall call atypical--then the court may not depart under section 5K2.0. If the case is atypical, that is, if it falls outside the heartland for the offense of conviction, the court must then focus on the nature of the atypicality and its place in the departure hierarchy. If the case is atypical only because of the presence of a feature that comprises a forbidden ground, the sentencing court may not depart. If the atypicality stems from an encouraged ground, the court may (and most likely will) depart. If the atypicality consists of a ground for departure that is neither forbidden nor encouraged, but is simply discouraged, then the court must take a long, hard look to determine whether the case differs significantly from the ordinary case in which the particular atypicality is present. See Rivera, 994 F.2d at 949.