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United States v. Chavez
Citation: 94 F. App'x 621Docket: No. 03-50190; D.C. No. CR-99-01163-CAS-01
Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; April 12, 2004; Federal Appellate Court
Appellant Alvarez Chavez contends that the district court incorrectly recalculated his sentence upon remand from a previous decision (Chavez I) due to a misunderstanding of the court's authority regarding discretionary departures from statutory maximum sentences. In Chavez I, the court had remanded the case because the district court mistakenly believed it could not grant such departures under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (U.S.S.G. 5G1.1(a) and 5G1.2(d)). The appellant argues that citing United States v. Rodriguez supports his claim that an acceptance-of-responsibility adjustment (U.S.S.G. 3E1.1) should correspondingly alter the statutory maximum sentence. Chavez asserts he is entitled to a downward departure from the statutory maximum equivalent to the three-level acceptance-of-responsibility adjustment applied in his initial sentencing. However, the court finds this argument to be legally unfounded. It clarifies that the Rodriguez case only allows for discretionary departures, not mandatory adjustments to statutory maximum sentences. The court emphasizes that once a statutory maximum is established, any deviation from that maximum must be a discretionary departure, and no legal basis exists for mandatory modifications to the offense level in relation to statutory maximums. The court affirmed the district court's decision, stating that Chavez’s interpretation of the Guidelines is erroneous. The disposition is not suitable for publication and cannot be cited except in accordance with Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.