In U.S. v. Castro, No. 05-16405 (July 12, 2006), the Court rejected a defendant’s challenge to his sentence for illegal reentry, finding no error in the refusal to grant him a downward departure based on the fact that some districts in the United States have a fast-track program that results in sentencing disparities.
Pointing out that some districts, but not his in the Northern District of Georgia, have a fast track program that allows defendants to plead guilty faster and receive a reduced sentence, Castro sought a lesser sentence on this basis, pointing to the disparities it creates among districts. The Court rejected this argument. The Court found that the sentence was consistent with the Guidelines. Further, any disparity created by the fast-track program was not within the scope of § 3553(a)(6), which instructs courts to avoid sentencing disparities. By allowing the fast-track program only in some districts Congress "implicitly determined that the disparity was warranted." In so holding, the Court joined every circuit to have considered the issue.
The Court rejected, on plain error review, an equal protection challenge to the fast track disparity. In the absence of precedent on point from the Supreme Court or the Eleventh Circuit, any error could not be "plain."
