United States v. John Buckendahl

BEAM, Circuit Judge.

This opinion addresses appeals from five separate criminal cases in the Northern District of Iowa. At issue is whether a district court may depart downward from the United States Sentencing Guidelines (Guidelines) based on an interdistrict sentencing disparity arising from the practice of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa to rarely agree to grant use immunity under section 1B1.8 of the Guidelines. We hold that the court does not possess such authority. Accordingly, we affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. BACKGROUND

The defendant in each criminal…