Does a sentencing court have to state its reasons for imposing a sentence that departs from the applicable guideline range?

MultiRegion, United States of America

The following excerpt is from U.S. v. Colace, 9 F.3d 1554 (9th Cir. 1993):

Under 18 U.S.C. 3553(c)(2), the sentencing court is obligated to state its reasons for imposing a sentence that departs from the applicable guideline range. Here, the district court stated only that: "I'm departing on the basis that I think that this is aberrant conduct by the defendant. It all happened in a very short time without any prior record of any kind." This conclusory statement does not constitute a sufficient basis in the record for us to review the issue of downward departure. See United States v. Lira-Barraza, 941 F.2d 745, 746-47 (9th Cir.1991); United States v. Wells, 878 F.2d 1232, 1233 (9th Cir.1989):

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