10th Determines It Lacks Jurisdiction to Consider Denial of Departure Motion

U.S. v. Fonseca, 2007 WL 64832 (1/11/07) - The 10th did not have jurisdiction to consider the question whether the d.ct. erroneously denied a downward departure motion because the d.ct. did not unambiguously state it had no authority to depart on the ground of the defendant's ignorance of the meth's purity. The 10th interpreted the d.ct.'s remarks as rejecting the factual basis for the departure, not its legal basis. The 10th noted it would have jurisdiction to consider the reasonableness of the within-Guidelines sentence, but the defendant had elected not to raise that question.