Opinion ID: 740999
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Over-representation of Criminal History

Text: 35 We have held that the sentencing guidelines permit the district court to depart downward from career offender status. United States v. Bowser, 941 F.2d 1019, 1023 (10th Cir.1991). Before granting a downward departure, the district court must find that there exists ... [a] mitigating circumstance of a kind ... 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. § 3553(b); see also U.S.S.G. § 5K2.0; United States v. Ziegler, 39 F.3d 1058, 1060 (10th Cir.1994). The sentencing guidelines explicitly acknowledge that over-representation of a defendant's criminal history is an appropriate consideration for downward departure. See U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3 (policy statement). Under section 4A1.3, the district court may grant a downward departure if the court concludes that a defendant's criminal history category significantly over-represents the seriousness of a defendant's criminal history or the likelihood that the defendant will commit further crimes. Id. 36 At the sentencing hearing, the district court rejected Mitchell's request for a downward departure, finding that his career offender status did not over-represent his criminal history. In particular, the court found that Mitchell had engaged in a life of crime, R. Vol. II, at 297, that his incarceration was necessary to protect the public from further crimes, R. Vol. II, at 287-88, and that his two prior escapes justified his enhanced sentence as a career offender, R. Vol. II, at 293. Based on these findings, the court concluded that it was without authority to depart downward under section 4A1.3. Absent clear error, we will not disturb the district court's factual finding that Mitchell's career offender status does not over-represent his criminal history, depriving the district court of discretion to depart downward from the applicable guideline range. 37 After reviewing the record, and in particular that portion of the pre-sentence report containing Mitchell's criminal history, we conclude that the district court's finding is not clearly erroneous. Mitchell has an extensive criminal history, including a drug possession conviction at age eighteen, two escape convictions, burglary of a dwelling, check fraud, and several other drug-related convictions. Even without application of the career offender enhancement, Mitchell's criminal history computation under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.1 would have placed him in Criminal History Category VI. Under these circumstances, the court did not clearly err in finding that Mitchell's career offender status does not over-represent the seriousness of his criminal history. As such, the district court properly held that it had no authority to depart downward under section 4A.1.3.