Deferential Review Applied to District Court's Decision re Consolidation of Prior Cases for Sentencing

U.S. v. Humphries, 2005 WL 3257513 (12/2/05) - Deference is owed a district court's determination regarding whether prior convictions were consolidated for sentencing and thus "related" and thus count as only a single conviction for guideline purposes. The 10th felt the issue was determined by Buford v. U.S., 532 U.S. 59 (2001), in which the S.Ct. held deferential review was appropriate for a district court's finding that a particular set of circumstances demonstrated "functional consolidation." The same reasons that required deferential review in that case applied to the consolidation question in this case, the 10th holds. The 10th affirms the district court's finding that the defendant's prior convictions were not consolidated for sentencing.