In U.S. v. Hunt, No. 05-11671 (Aug. 10, 2006), the Court held that, post-Booker, a district court "may determine, on a case-by-case basis, the weight to give the Guidelines, so long as that determination is made with reference to the remaining section 3553(a) factors that the court must also consider in calculating the defendant’s sentence." The Court held that there should be no "presumption" in favor of a Guidelines sentence.
The Court acknowledged that the district court when sentencing a defendant under the Guidelines (which reflect a 100:1 crack/powder differential) "made some statements that could be interpreted as presumptions in favor the Guidelines." However, the district court also stated that it believed the Guidelines were worthy of deference "in that particular case." Consequently, the setnence was reasonable.
