Opinion ID: 557842
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Firearm Discharge

Text: 39 At the time of sentencing, the court justified a portion of the upward departure on the basis that a firearm had been discharged during the commission of the second count, assault with a deadly weapon. In doing so, the court overlooked the fact that the computed adjusted offense level on this count had taken the firearm discharge into account, increasing the offense level of this count by five levels. This increase adequately accounts for the firearm discharge under the Guidelines. Because a departure from the Guidelines is only permitted when based on a circumstance not adequately taken into consideration by the Sentencing Commission in formulating the Guidelines, any portion of the upward departure that is based on the firearm discharge is thus an unreasonable departure from the applicable guideline range. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3742(f)(2). We remand the determination of this portion of the sentence noting that the firearm discharge has been adequately considered by the Guidelines. 40