US v. Williams, No. 09-3795

In US v. Williams, No. 09-3795, the court affirmed defendant's sentence for distributing, and aiding and abetting the distribution of, crack cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school, holding that 1) the timing of defendant's motion supported the government's argument that his motion for reassignment was judge-shopping, rather than reflecting concerns about judicial economy and the need to spare judges from compromising their philosophy of sentencing; 2) it was not unreasonable to require a third party desiring information about a defendant's sentencing proceedings to attend the sentencing hearings; and 3) that the district court did not explicitly address any policy disagreement with other sentencing courts did not convert the denial of variance into an abuse of discretion.