United States Eleventh Circuit

On government appeal from defendant's 204-month sentence imposed for possessing crack cocaine with intent to distribute, sentence is vacated as the district court erred in mitigating the sentence based on its: 1) disagreement with Congress's policy of punishing crack cocaine offenders more severely than powder cocaine offenders through the 100-to-1 crack-to-powder drug quantity ratio; 2) disagreement with the career offender enhancement under U.S.S.G. section 4B1.1; and 3) its belief that the Government manipulated the sentence by arranging to purchase crack cocaine instead of powder cocaine.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/21/2006
• Published 07/21/2006

Judges

• BLACK, Circuit Judge:, Before BLACK, PRYOR and COX, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eleventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Peggy Morris Ronca, Jacksonville, FL, for U.S., George Allen Couture and Rosemary T. Cakmis, Fed. Pub. Defenders, Clarence W. Counts, Jr., Asst. Fed. Pub. Def., Orlando, FL, for Wiliams.