Court Opinion

ID: 9480568
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:51:40.547251+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:46.000652
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring.
In my view, United States v. Smitherman, 889 F.2d 189 (8th Cir.1989), sweeps with too broad a brush. If a district judge decides to depart downward and if there is substantial support for this departure in the record, the court’s decision should be sustained on appeal. See United States v. Gutierrez, 908 F.2d 349 (8th Cir.1990) (Heaney, J., dissenting); United States v. Roberts, 726 F.Supp. 1359 (D.D.C.1989). The court should also be sustained if a question of prosecutorial bad faith or arbi*310trariness is present. United States v. Grant, 886 F.2d 1513 (8th Cir.1989).