United States v. Burns

I concur in Judge Bye’s well-reasoned and thoughtfully written dissent. Judge Bye has capably discredited the majority’s statistically inaccurate and potentially harmful “extraordinary” standard for substantial assistance departures. Moreover, he has carefully described the level of assistance Burns provided to justify the district court’s departure. I write separately to express my views because I rely on a more pragmatic approach than statistical comparisons. For these additional reasons, I dissent from the majority’s decision to vacate the sentence. I concur in the majority’s decisions as…