Opinion ID: 1233930
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: .The Court's Decision in Gall

Text: In Gall, 552 U.S. 38, 128 S.Ct. 586, 169 L.Ed.2d 445, the Supreme Court reversed our holding in United States v. Gall, 446 F.3d 884 (8th Cir.2006). In doing so, the Court jettisoned the showing of proportionality and extraordinary circumstances that we required in Burns II and in our other decisions to justify a departure from the appropriate guidelines range: In reviewing the reasonableness of a sentence outside the Guidelines range, appellate courts may therefore take the degree of variance into account and consider the extent of a deviation from the Guidelines. We reject, however, an appellate rule that requires extraordinary circumstances to justify a sentence outside the Guidelines range. We also reject the use of a rigid mathematical formula that uses the percentage of a departure as the standard for determining the strength of the justifications required for a specific sentence. Gall, 128 S.Ct. at 594-95. The Court rejected as inconsistent with the abuse-of-discretion standard of review applicable to appellate review of all sentencing decisions the heightened standard of review resulting from the requirement of exceptional circumstances and the application of rigid mathematical formulations. Id. at 596. Rather, the sentencing court's latitude in determining the extent of variance from a guidelines sentence is cabined by the requirement that a major departure should be supported by a more significant justification than a minor one and by the requirement that the chosen sentence be adequately explained so as to allow for meaningful appellate review and to promote the perception of fair sentencing. Id. at 597. Under the abuse of discretion standard of review applicable once a sentence has been determined to be free from any significant procedural error, [t]he fact that the appellate court might reasonably have concluded that a different sentence was appropriate is insufficient to justify reversal of the district court. Id.