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USCA1 Opinion

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS


FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
_________________________

No. 96-1026

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Appellee,

v.

ERIC JOEL CARRION-CRUZ,

Defendant, Appellant.

____________________

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

[Hon. Jose Antonio Fuste, U.S. District Judge]


___________________

____________________

Before

Selya and Boudin, Circuit Judges,


______________

and McAuliffe,* District Judge.


______________

____________________

Benicio Sanchez-Rivera, Federal Public Defender, and Juan E.


______________________
_______
Alvarez,
_______

Assistant

Federal

Public

Defender,

on

brief

for

appellant.

Guillermo

Gil, United

States Attorney,

Jose

A.

Quiles-

______________
Espinosa,
________

Senior

__________________
Litigation

Counsel, and

Miguel A. Pereira,
___________________

Assistant United States Attorney, on brief for the United States.

____________________

August 7, 1996

____________________

Per Curiam.
Per Curiam.
__________

Defendant-appellant Eric Joel Carrion-Cruz

pled

guilty to

2119(3).

violating

the carjacking

U.S.C.

At the disposition hearing, the district court departed

upward from the guideline sentencing

of life

statute, 18

imprisonment.1

range to impose a

sentence

Carrion-Cruz assigns error to the upward

departure.

We

have

carefully

disposition hearing,

the

briefs.

examined

the presentence

the

transcript

of

the

investigation report,

and

Since we are persuaded that the assignment of error

lacks merit, we

summarily affirm.

See 1st Cir. R. 27.1.


___

We add

only four brief comments.

First:
_____

U.S.S.G.

5K2.0 allows

sentencing courts

to

depart from the guideline sentencing range in a given case if the

court finds aggravating

or mitigating circumstances

that render

the case atypical

the

and take it out

applicable guideline

Quinones,
________

26 F.3d

of the "heartland"

was designed.

213, 216

for which

See United States v.


___ ______________

(1st Cir.

1994); United States v.


______________

Rivera, 994 F.2d 942, 946 (1st Cir. 1993); United States v. Diaz______
_____________
_____

Villafane, 874
_________

U.S.

F.2d 43,

862 (1989).

Here,

defendant was responsible

whom

were good samaritans

within an

49 (1st Cir.

the

1989), cert.
_____

multiple killings

denied, 493
______

for which

the

murdering four individuals (two of

who had stopped

abbreviated time frame

to offer assistance)

transport

the defendant's

____________________

1In effect, the

court raised the defendant's

by three levels (from 40 to 43).


Offense Level 43

offense level

Even for a first-time offender,

commands a sentence of life

U.S.S.G. Ch. 5, Pt. A (Sentencing Table).

imprisonment.

See
___

activities well

U.S.S.G.

outside the mine-run

5K2.1 (encouraging courts

from the otherwise

of carjacking cases.

See
___

to consider upward departure

applicable guideline sentencing range

if the

relevant offense conduct results in multiple deaths).

Second:
______

The defendant points to his youth and limited

intellect as mitigating

factors.

But his counsel

made much the

same

argument

commented upon

account of them.

vantage,

aside

below,

and

the

these factors in

judge

court's

specifically

passing sentence and

Given the sentencing court's

see Diaz-Villafane,
___ ______________

that

district

874 F.2d

considered judgment

special coign of

at 49,

on

took full

we cannot

so

brush

interstitial a

matter.

Third:
_____

The defendant's challenge to the reasonableness

of the upward departure is

unavailing.

Offense Level 40 permits

sentences of up to 365 months for first offenders.

of the ensuing

43)

departure

a life sentence (Offense

Level

is reasonable, considering the sordid facts of the

case.

See, e.g., Quinones, 26 F.3d


___ ____ ________

to

The magnitude

at 218 (explaining that

"unusually

brutal, cruel, and degrading treatment" of victims "is emblematic

of the

very sort

of sociopathic behavior"

substantial

upward departure).

conceivable

test

of

reasonableness.

(upholding 60% increase as

at 52

The

(upholding departure

that will

departure

See,
___

sustain a

here meets

id.
___

at

any

219-20

reasonable); Diaz-Villafane, 874 F.2d


______________

that more

than doubled

defendant's

sentence as reasonable).

Fourth:
______

Relatedly, the Supreme Court's

recent opinion

in Koon
____

makes it

v. United States, 64 U.S.L.W. 4512 (U.S. June 13, 1996),


_____________

clear that we

must respect a district

competence in sentencing

matters, see id. at 4516-17, and uphold


___ ___

a departure sentence unless the court has

see id.
___ ___

at 4517.

crime, a convincing

court's special

In light of

abused its discretion,

the stark

case of discretion

facts of this

brutal

abused simply cannot

be

mustered.

We

need

go

instructed us that "it

substitute its

no

further.2

The

is not the role of an

judgment for that

Supreme

Court

has

appellate court to

of the sentencing court

as to

the

appropriateness

United States, 503


_____________

of

a particular

U.S. 193, 205

quotation marks omitted).

to contravene that precept.

take so precipitous a step.

Affirmed.
________

In

sentence."

Williams v.
________

(1992) (citation and

internal

essence, the defendant invites

us

On these facts, we have no reason to

____________________

2Because

the upward

departure is

incidence of multiple deaths, we

fully

justified by

the

need not address the sentencing

court's alternative justifications for the sentence.

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