Opinion ID: 1316754
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Section 5K1.1 Departure

Text: It remains true that after the government has made a motion for downward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1, the government has no control over whether and to what extent the district court will depart from the Guidelines. See Martin, 455 F.3d at 1235; McVay, 447 F.3d at 1353. The district court's downward departure need only be reasonable. See Martin, 455 F.3d at 1235; McVay, 447 F.3d at 1353. And after Gall, of course, we must review the district court's § 5K1.1 departure under a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. See Gall, 128 S.Ct. at 597 ([R]egardless of whether the sentence imposed is inside or outside the Guidelines range, the appellate court must review the sentence under an abuse-of-discretion standard.); see also Martin, 455 F.3d at 1236 (stating that if a district court departs under § 5K1.1, we review that departure for an abuse of discretion). Applying Gall and affording substantial deference to the district court here, we are once again constrained to conclude that the district court legally erred in its § 5K1.1 downward departure. More specifically, the district court committed prong one, or procedural, Gall error in its § 5K1.1 departure, because the district court based the extent of its § 5K1.1 departure on an impermissible consideration. See Gall, 128 S.Ct. at 597. As we outlined in Livesay II, in determining the extent of a § 5K1.1 departure, the district court must consider the five non-exclusive § 5K1.1 factors, which are: (1) the usefulness of the defendant's assistance; (2) the truthfulness and completeness of the defendant's information and testimony; (3) the nature and extent of the defendant's assistance; (4) any injury suffered or risk of injury or danger to the defendant and his family as a result of his assistance; and (5) the timeliness of the assistance. See U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1(a)(1)-(5); see also Livesay II, 484 F.3d at 1330-31. The district court may consider factors beyond those five,  but only if the factors relate to the assistance provided by the defendant.  Martin, 455 F.3d at 1235, 1239 (concluding that the district court committed legal error by considering, in its § 5K1.1 analysis, the threat of future civil liability, which was not assistance-related) (emphasis added); see also McVay, 447 F.3d at 1354-55 (declining to consider extent of § 5K1.1 departure because district court had committed legal error by considering only non-assistance related factsMcVay's exemplary record and his relationship with his daughterin the § 5K1.1 analysis); United States v. Davis, 407 F.3d 1269, 1271 (11th Cir.2005); United States v. Luiz, 102 F.3d 466, 469 (11th Cir.1996). Here, the resentencing transcript makes clear that the district court, in determining the extent of its § 5K1.1 departure, considered the fact that [Livesay] repudiated the conspiracy at an early time and no longer participated in it. The district court even explained in its § 5K1.1 ruling that [a]lthough [Livesay's] actions were not sufficient to meet the legal standards for withdrawing from a conspiracy, the Court [was] impressed with the fact that from just an ordinary, common sense understanding, [Livesay] did substantially withdraw from the conspiracy. However, Livesay's repudiation of or common sense withdrawal from the conspiracy simply does not relate to the assistance that Livesay provided to the government. Accordingly, the district court should not have considered Livesay's repudiation of or withdrawal from the conspiracy in determining the extent of its § 5K1.1 departure. As such, the district court committed prong one or procedural Gall error when it departed 18 levels under § 5K1.1. Nonetheless, it is unnecessary to remand for resentencing if the § 5K1.1 procedural error did not affect the ultimate sentence imposed. See United States v. Keene, 470 F.3d 1347, 1349 (11th Cir.2006). In fact, the district court here clearly indicated that it would have imposed the same sentence even if its § 5K1.1 downward departure was erroneous. In other words, even without any § 5K1.1 departure, the district court still would have varied under Booker from the advisory Guidelines range of 78 to 97 months' imprisonment to impose a sentence of 60 months' probation (with 6 months' home detention) based on the § 3553(a) factors. Thus, we also review the district court's alternative Booker variance from the advisory Guidelines range of 78 to 97 months' imprisonment.