United States Eighth Circuit

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.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/09/2009
• Published 09/09/2009

Judges

• LOKEN, Chief Judge., Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, MELLOY and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Matthew R. Metzgar, Sioux City, IA, for appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Kevin Craig Fletcher, AUSA, Sioux City, IA, for appellee.