United States of America, Appellee-Cross-Appellant v. John Stanley, Cross-Appellee

FEINBERG, Circuit Judge:

This case raises a significant and difficult issue in the application of the Sentencing Guidelines: whether the sentencing judge may depart downward from the guideline range because of a disparity in sentence between defendants who have engaged in similar conduct but are charged with different offenses as a result of plea-bargaining decisions by the prosecutor.

John Stanley was convicted in July 1990 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Edward R. Korman, J., after a jury trial, on one count of possessing more than five grams of crack…