Opinion ID: 202547
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Justification for the Sentence

Text: 18 Vázquez claims that the court did not adequately explain the reasoning behind his sentence as required by 18 U.S.C. § 3553(c). We said in United States v. Jiménez-Beltre that it is important for us to have the district court's reasons for its sentence; however, the reasons need not be explicit: [A] court's reasoning can often be inferred by comparing what was argued by the parties or contained in the pre-sentence report with what the judge did. 440 F.3d 514, 519 (1st Cir.2006); see also United States v. Navedo-Concepción, 450 F.3d 54, 57 (1st Cir.2006) (The more obvious the reasons for a [sentencing] choice, the less that needs to be explained.). Although the court did not specifically reject Vázquez's arguments during the pronouncement of the sentence, it did explain that it had found by a preponderance of the evidence that at least five kilograms of cocaine could be attributed to Vázquez, that a weapon was foreseeable, and that it considered every one of the factors enumerated in § 3553(a) that it is required to consider. The court further stated that it was basing its sentence on the fact that 19 [D]efendant was a runner or administrator of a drug point, he had decision making authority to facilitate the delivery of narcotics, was in charge of buying, processing, and distributing drugs at the drug point. He was also responsible for supervising the operations of the drug point. Moreover there were people who participated in this conspiracy that possessed, carried, used and brandished firearms and defendant was aware of the same. 20 In addition, prior to the pronouncement of sentence, the court specifically stated that it did not agree with Vázquez's disparity argument because plea bargains were very valuable for the system. Given these explanations, we find it easy to infer that the sentencing court did not find Vázquez's arguments regarding sentencing disparities or the sufficiency of the evidence persuasive and that it thought that a sentence based on the Guidelines recommendation was warranted. Accordingly, we find the sentencing court's reasoning to be sufficient to comply with 18 U.S.C. § 3553(c) and to provide us with a base to analyze Vázquez's other claims.