United States v. Naugle

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

WEINSTEIN, Senior District Judge:

When a sentencing judge has declined to depart below the Guidelines range, the judge either believed he or she did not have the power to depart, or chose not to exercise that power. In a number of recent cases, the court of appeals has remanded when it was not sufficiently clear from the record that the sentencing judge was aware of the power to depart. For reasons explained in this memorandum, an either-or formulation conflicts with a number of functions of the sentencing judge. Sometimes this concern for the feelings of the defendant and…