In re Sealed Case

TATEL, Circuit Judge:

The district court denied appellant’s motion for downward departure under'section 5K1.1 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines because the Government had not filed a motion attesting to appellant’s substantial assistance. Applying Koon v. United States, 518 U.S. 81, 116 S.Ct. 2035, 135 L.Ed.2d 392 (1996), and finding nothing in the Sentencing Guidelines flatly prohibiting departures in the absence of government motions, we remand for the district court to determine whether the circumstances of this ease take it out of the relevant heartland so as to warrant departure.

I