US v. Christensen, No. 08-3103

District court's sentence of a defendant convicted of manufacturing and distributing illegal drugs is affirmed where: 1) district court properly limited its section 3553(e) departure analysis to a consideration of defendant's substantial assistance and declined to consider the section 3553(a) factors, as section 3553(e) departure below a statutory minimum sentence must be based exclusively on assistance-related considerations; 2) district court did not err in refusing to grant a greater departure based on 3553(a) factors as it lacked the authority to do so; 3) district court did not abuse its discretion or err in selecting a starting point for the departure of 60%; and 4) the sentence was not unreasonable.     

Read US v. Christensen, No. 08-3103

Appellate Information

Submitted: February 10, 2009

Filed: September 9, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Loken, Circuit Judge