Court Opinion

ID: 9498758
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:27:24.838683+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:03.305571
License: Public Domain

DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I write separately to emphasize that a variance of this magnitude is not per se unreasonable, and that consideration of a defendant’s personal characteristics and history is proper under § 3553(a). When evaluating the reasonableness of a variance sentence, we must determine in each case whether the particular reasons offered by the district court warrant the specific reduction imposed. Here, the district court gave excessive weight to a single § 3553(a)(1) factor and failed to consider other relevant personal characteristics, such as Hampton’s prior convictions and pending charges, his being behind in child support payments, and his inconsistent employment history, as well as other relevant § 3553(a) factors. Given the sparsity of applicable § 3553(a) factors supporting a deviation from the guideline range in this case, the court’s purported reasons for reducing Hampton’s sentence fall far short of justifying a variance of such a degree.
However, there will undoubtedly be cases in which a sizable variance sentence better serves the § 3553(a) factors. See, e.g., United States v. Williams, 435 F.3d 1350, 1354-55 (11th Cir.2006) (per curiam) (affirming a sentence that was more than fifty percent below the suggested guideline range); United States v. Hadash, 408 F.3d 1080, 1084 (8th Cir.2005) (affirming the district court’s six-level variance as “reasonable based on the § 3553(a) factors”). Moreover, automatic application of the guidelines without proper consideration of the other § 3553(a) factors would contravene Booker’s mandate. See 125 S.Ct. at 757. Thus, in fashioning a reasonable sentence, district courts must properly calculate the advisory guideline range and then must determine what sentence — one within the advisory range or outside of it — most effectively meets the factors set forth § 3553(a).