Court Opinion

ID: 9482031
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:38:11.258584+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:43.234351
License: Public Domain

HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring.
It must be conceded that in considering reduction for acceptance of responsibility the sentencing court has wide latitude and broad discretion. With the authorities cited by the majority, I have no quarrel. Even so, I think the district court made a mistake in sentencing Drapeau near the top of the Guidelines range.
The record reflects that there was minimal trauma, if any, to the victim who, like the defendant, was dead drunk at the time of the alleged rape. There was no seminal deposit left in or on the victim and no blood, other than that of Drapeau who was beaten when taken from the presence of the victim.
In the circumstances, it seems not at all unusual for the defendant to have said (even though he entered a plea of guilty) that he did not recall what actually happened and that he had difficulty believing that he committed the offense. He further stated to the court that if he did anything he was sorry.
On the record as a whole, I think the court might better have departed downward, but in light of the broad discretion given the district judge in such cases I cannot say the sentence imposed was without foundation. See United States v. Russell, 913 F.2d 1288, 1295 (8th Cir.1990). Thus, reluctantly I concur.