United States v. Salazar-Hernandez

SENTENCING MEMORANDUM

ADELMAN, District Judge.

The mandatory federal sentencing guidelines strictly limited the ability of district courts to impose sentences outside the prescribed range. However, now that the guidelines are advisory, United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), courts may consider factors that the guidelines treated as irrelevant and where appropriate may find that the range called for by the guidelines is excessive. In certain cases that were in the appellate pipeline when the Court decided Booker, district courts have been afforded a chance…