Court Opinion

ID: 9490881
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:57:34.706737+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:22.509551
License: Public Domain

MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The record on which the district court based its decision to depart from the guidelines consisted mainly of 68 letters written by acquaintances of Mr. Morken. The letters *631were all highly laudatory of him, and a number of them bear directly or indirectly on what the district court characterized as service to the community. I note that U.S.S.G. § 5H1.11 provides that civic or public service, prior good works, and “employment-related contributions” “are not ordinarily relevant in determining whether” a departure is warranted. Thus, the district court may not depart unless one of these factors is present to an exceptional degree. Koon v. United States, 518 U.S. 81, -, 116 S.Ct. 2035, 2045, 135 L.Ed.2d 392 (1996).
I would conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in departing in this ease. See id. at -, 116 S.Ct. at 2048. Although the court did not indicate precisely what aspect of Mr. Morken’s community contributions it relied on in departing, the letters in the record document the unusual entrepreneurial skills that he possessed and used to good effect in providing very substantial employment to a small community. I believe that these are the kinds of “employment-related contributions” that U.S.S.G. § 5H1.11 contemplates, and I cannot say that the court abused its discretion in concluding that such contributions were present to a very unusual degree in this ease. We should be mindful of the Supreme Court’s caveat that a “district court’s decision to depart from the Guidelines ... will in most cases be due substantial deference, for it embodies the traditional exercise of discretion by a sentencing court.” Koon, 518 U.S. at -, 116 S.Ct. at 2046.
I therefore respectfully dissent from the judgment of the court.