U.S. v. Bromberg, 89-2274

• Decision Date: 20 May 1991
• Docket Number: No. 89-2274,89-2274
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leonard Joel BROMBERG, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 895

933 F.2d 895

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leonard Joel BROMBERG, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 89-2274.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

May 20, 1991.

James Murphy, Asst. U.S. Atty. (William L. Lutz, U.S. Atty., James D. Tierney, Asst. U.S. Atty., with him, on the brief), Albuquerque, N.M., for plaintiff-appellee.

David L. Plotsky, Albuquerque, N.M., for defendant-appellant.

Before McKAY and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges, and BROWN, District Judge. ^*

WESLEY E. BROWN, Senior District Judge.

Defendant-appellant pled guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. (21 U.S.C. Secs. 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(B)). The district court departed downward from the guidelines and sentenced appellant to 66 months imprisonment and four years of supervised release. Appellant now contends that the district court erroneously refused to depart further downward in imposing the sentence. We conclude that we have no jurisdiction over the appeal and we therefore dismiss the case.

Appellant does not challenge the correctness of the guideline range applied to him. He concedes that the appropriate range under the guidelines was 78 to 97 months imprisonment (resulting from a total offense level of 28 and a criminal history category of I). The minimum sentence for appellant's offense was set by statute at 60 months. Pursuant to a plea agreement, the Government recommended that the court depart below the guideline range and the statutory minimum, however, because the defendant had provided substantial assistance to the Government. See 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3553(e) and U.S.S.G. Sec. 5K1.1. The Government recommended a sentence of 48 months imprisonment.

The district court found that a downward departure was warranted under the circumstances but concluded that a departure below the statutory minimum "does not meet the ends of justice nor satisfy the sentencing goals of punishment and deterrence." The court indicated that it would be inappropriate to grant the defendant the full extent of the departure he sought because it would result in a lower sentence than the court had imposed on a less culpable co-defendant. ¹ The court imposed the same sentence on appellant that had been imposed on appellant's co-defendant--66 months.

The parties disagree as to whether this court has jurisdiction to determine the defendant's claims. This issue is controlled by 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3742(a), which governs a defendant's right to appeal his sentence. That section provides in part:

(a). Appeal by a defendant.--A defendant may file a notice of appeal in the district court for review of an otherwise final sentence if the sentence--

(1) was imposed in violation of law; [or]

(2) was imposed as a result of an incorrect application of the sentencing guidelines

....

Id. Section 3742 establishes a limited practice of appellate review of criminal sentences. S.Rep. No. 225, 98th Cong., 2d Sess. 149, reprinted in 1984 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 3182, 3332.

Appellant makes two arguments in support of his assertion that the district court's sentence is appealable under Sec. 3742(a). First, he argues that the sentence was imposed in violation of law because it is contrary to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3553(a)(6). This section directs a district court to consider "the need to avoid unwarranted sentence disparities among defendants with similar records who have been found guilty of similar conduct" in determining an appropriate sentence. Id. Second, appellant states that the sentence was imposed as a result of an incorrect application of the guidelines because it is inconsistent with the guidelines' policy of eliminating unwarranted sentencing disparities.

It is settled law in this circuit and others that a district court's discretionary refusal to depart downward from the guidelines does not confer appellate jurisdiction under Sec. 3742. United States v. Davis, 900 F.2d 1524, 1529-30 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 155, 112 L.Ed.2d 121 (1990); United States v. Richardson, 901 F.2d 867, 870 (10th Cir.1990); United States v. Lowden, 905 F.2d 1448, 1449 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 206, 112 L.Ed.2d 166 (1990). As we noted in Davis, "if we were to interpret section 3742(a)(2) to allow appeals for departure-related decisions as incorrect applications of the guidelines, we would render section 3743(a)(3) redundant. Because Congress could not have intended such a specific provision to be mere surplusage, we conclude that Congress did not intend for departure-related decisions, including refusals to depart, to be appealable under 3742(a)(2)." Davis, 900 F.2d at 1529.

The fact that the guidelines do not allow for appellate review when a district court chooses not to grant a downward departure compels the conclusion that we also lack jurisdiction where the defendant complains that the district court's grant of a downward departure is too small. We agree with those circuits holding that the extent of downward departure chosen by the district court is normally not appealable by a defendant under Sec. 3742. See United States v. Hazel, 928 F.2d 420, 424 (D.C.Cir.1991) (Granting the defendant's request for review in this case would place us in the inconsistent position of being able to review the methodology and justifications for the degree of downward departure, while leaving us unable to review a decision not to depart in the first place); United States v. Gant, 902 F.2d 570, 572-73 (7th Cir.1990); United States v. Pighetti, 898 F.2d 3, 4 (1st Cir.1990) (The statute affords no grounds for the beneficiary of a departure decision to complain that the deviation should have been greater); United States v. Wright, 895 F.2d 718, 720 (11th Cir.1990) (To permit a defendant to appeal a sentence below the guideline range would render meaningless the provision specifically allowing a defendant to appeal an upward departure). See also United States v. Colon 84 F.2d 1550, 1556 (2nd Cir.1989) (The law does not provide appellate review for defendants facing long sentences that include small downward departures.) This result is consistent with Congress' intent to avoid unnecessary appeals by limiting review of upward departures to defendants and downward departures to the Government. See United States v. Gant, supra; 18 U.S.C. Secs. 3742(a)(3) and 3742(b)(3).

Appellant's contention that the sentence imposed resulted from an incorrect application of the guidelines or was in violation of the law is not persuasive. The record clearly indicates that the district court was aware that it had discretion to determine the extent of an appropriate departure. After finding that the departure recommended by the Government did not meet the ends of justice nor satisfy the sentencing goals of punishment and deterrence, the court explained, "I previously expressed my concern over the inequity that would result in sentencing between this defendant and co-defendant Sorensen if I totally accepted the Government's recommendations." The court added: "While the motives of the Government may be well-intentioned, the practical effect of its request would result in a disparity and...