Court Opinion

ID: 9490224
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:36:40.58823+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:57.793722
License: Public Domain

KEAKSE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent from the approval of a downward departure, relieving Michael Ga-lante, convicted of conspiracy to distribute heroin, of any term of imprisonment on the basis of his family circumstances.
One of the major purposes of the introduction of the Sentencing Guidelines was the avoidance of unwarranted disparities among defendants guilty of similar conduct with similar records. Accordingly, “[b]efore a departure is permitted, certain aspects of the case must be found unusual enough for it to fall outside the heartland of eases in the Guideline.” Koon v. United States, — U.S. -, -, 116 S.Ct. 2035, 2046, 135 L.Ed.2d 392 (1996). Although as an appellate court we see only a fraction of the number of cases decided by the district courts, there are numerous published decisions with regard to family circumstances that persuade me that the findings of the district court in the present case — principally that Galante is the family’s primary financial support, that he takes care of his children while his wife engages in part-time employment, that his wife’s job prospects are limited, and that his children are eight and nine years of age and would be harmed in their education and upbringing if he went to prison — do not reveal family circumstances that are outside the heartland, *1038and hence that the departure is an abuse of discretion.
The removal of a source of family income and the disruption of family life are normal consequences of the imposition of a prison sentence. Thus, some district courts have denied departures in circumstances that seem no less compelling than the circumstances here. See, e.g., United States v. Malpeso, 943 F.Supp. 254, 257 (E.D.N.Y.1996) (denying departure although one of defendant’s young children showed signs of emotional distress, the family was eneounter-ing financial difficulties, and defendant’s wife, unable to find competent, affordable full-time day care for the children, had been unable to obtain employment); United States v. Hernandez, 1994 WL 469366, at *4 (S.D.N.Y.1994) (denying departure for mother although father was already in prison, finding “nothing more than that which innumerable defendants could no doubt establish: namely, that the imposition of prison sentences normally disrupts ... parental relationships” (internal quotation marks omitted)); United States v. Cabo, 911 F.Supp. 630, 642 (E.D.N.Y.) (“[T]he court does not find anything in [the defendant’s] circumstances that sets him apart from other defendants who have been their family’s sole bread winner or whose children will have difficulty in dealing with their father’s incarceration to merit a downward departure.”), aff'd mem., 104 F.3d 354, 1996 WL 685764 (2d Cir.1996).
Similarly, other Circuits have strictly reviewed “family circumstances” departures and have often reversed, reasoning that “the disintegration of existing family life or relationships is insufficient to warrant a departure, as that is to be expected when a family member engages in criminal activity that results in a period of incarceration.” United States v. Canoy, 38 F.3d 893, 907 (7th Cir.1994). See also United States v. Dyce, 91 F.3d 1462, 1468 (D.C.Cir.) (as “innumerable defendants could no doubt establish,” a “prison sentenee[ ] normally disrupts ... parental relationships”) (internal quotation marks omitted), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 117 S.Ct. 533, 136 L.Ed.2d 418 (1996); United States v. Brown, 29 F.3d 953, 961 (5th Cir.) (same), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1021, 115 S.Ct. 587, 130 L.Ed.2d 501 (1994); United States v. Berlier, 948 F.2d 1093, 1095-96 (9th Cir.1991) (same); United States v. Goff, 907 F.2d 1441, 1446 (4th Cir.1990) (same). In the two cases we have found that are most similar to the present case, i.e., cases in which the defendant was the primary breadwinner in a two-parent household with children, family-circumstance departures have been disapproved. See United States v. Bell, 974 F.2d 537, 538-39 (4th Cir.1992) (reversing departure that was based on facts that defendant “had been a member of a stable family unit for a period of eighteen years,” that his “children needed him for guidance, family life, and financial support,” and that his wife could not adequately support the family); United States v. Rushby, 936 F.2d 41, 42-43 (1st Cir.1991) (departure not warranted where defendant had “strong family ties,” “a solid marriage for ten years,” and “two sons, aged seven and nine,” even though defendant was “steadily and successfully employed in his own” business and, as such, was “the main breadwinner of the family [who] fune-tionfed] as a caretaker ... when his wife [wa]s working” and even though defendant did “chores (such as grocery shopping and snow shoveling) for his wife’s grandmother”).
Even family-circumstances pleas of defendants who are single parents, which would seem more compelling insofar as financial support, caregiving, and preservation of a family unit are concerned, have normally been rejected. See, e.g., United States v. Brand, 907 F.2d 31, 33 (4th Cir.) (reversing departure, noting that “[a] sole, custodial parent is not a rarity in today’s society, and imprisoning such a parent will by definition separate the parent from the children”), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1014, 111 S.Ct. 585, 112 L.Ed.2d 590 (1990); United States v. Carr, 932 F.2d 67, 72-73 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 834, 112 S.Ct. 112, 116 L.Ed.2d 82 (1991); United States v. Headley, 923 F.2d 1079, 1082-83 (3d Cir.1991); United States v. Brown, 29 F.3d at 961; United States v. Harrison, 970 F.2d 444, 447-48 (8th Cir.1992); United States v. Webb, 49 F.3d 636, 638-39 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 116 S.Ct. 121, 133 L.Ed.2d 71 (1995); United States v. Mogel, 956 F.2d 1555, 1565 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 857, 113 *1039S.Ct. 167, 121 L.Ed.2d 115 (1992); United States v. Dyce, 91 F.3d at 1467-68.
The present case does not have the extra ingredients that have led this Court in two eases to approve departures for family circumstances. In United States v. Johnson, 964 F.2d 124 (2d Cir.1992), the defendant was a single parent who faced “extraordinary” parental responsibilities, “more than the responsibilities of an ordinary parent, more even than those of an ordinary single parent,” for she “was solely responsible for the upbringing of her three young children, including an infant, and of the young child of her institutionalized daughter.” Id. at 129. In United States v. Alba, 933 F.2d 1117 (2d Cir.1991), the defendant had responsibility not only for his wife and children but also for his grandmother and for his disabled father who depended on the defendant’s physical strength “to help him get in and out of his wheelchair.” Id. at 1122.
The district court’s speculation in the present case that Galante’s parents “may require some assistance in the future” hardly brings this case into the orbit of Alba, so as to warrant elimination of imprisonment now. The court’s findings that Galante is the primary caretaker and financial support, that his wife’s job prospects are limited, and that his children would be adversely impacted in their education and upbringing, do not suffice to show that this case is outside the heartland of cases in which a parent engages in criminal activity that results in a period of incarceration.
In short, it seems to me that approval of the present departure either guarantees disparities in sentencing or eliminates the family-impact “heartland” altogether.