Court Opinion

ID: 9487818
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:27:23.481064+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:30.087133
License: Public Domain

FAY, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
This is a most respectful dissent in a strange case. I have no quarrel with the soundness of the majority opinion. What troubles me is the uniqueness of the relationship between the United States and Cuba.
Section 5K2.0 states in part:
Under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(b) the sentencing court may impose a sentence outside the range established by the applicable guideline, if the court finds “that there exists an aggravating or mitigating circum*1083stance of a kind, or to a degree, not adequately taken into consideration by the Sentencing Commission in formulating the guidelines that should result in a sentence different from the described.”
There is simply no way that the Sentencing Commission, nor anyone else, could consider our country’s position as to Cuba or its present leader on any day or during any particular time period. The reason for this is simple — our country’s policy toward Cuba changes rapidly (some would say on a daily basis) and has from the time of the tragic fiasco at the Bay of Pigs to present. This is not meant to be critical of any of the responsible authorities. It is merely stated as a fact of life.
That being the situation it seems to me that the law grants the sentencing judge the discretion to depart from the sentencing guidelines. This is precisely what the district court did in sentencing the appellant.
The departure downward has nothing to do with the appellant’s politics or subjective beliefs as discussed in Section 5K2.11. It has to do with the diplomatic position of the United States government, activities supported by our government which are aimed toward the removal of Castro and whether or not cases such as this fall outside the “heartland” of cases covered by the guidelines. § 5K2.0.
This vessel was registered in the Bahamas and was stopped either on the high seas or in Bahamian waters many miles outside of those claimed by the United States. There was no incident in Marathon, Florida, nor anywhere else within the United States. And, it is certainly not clear to me that we have a national policy against providing arms and other support to those in Cuba who oppose Castro. It may come as news to others as well.
Based upon the bizarre nature of our country’s policies relative to Cuba, I would find that such was not considered by the Sentencing Commission and therefore, under the law, the district court had the discretion to depart downward. I would affirm the judgment of the district court.