Another notable reasonableness ruling from the Sixth Circuit

Though not as dramatic as yesterday's sentencing fireworks in the Sixth Circuit, the court's decision today in US v. Ossa-Gallegos, No. 05-5824 (6th Cir. June 30, 2006) (available here) has an interesting discussion of reasonableness in an illegal reentry case.  Though the decision rejects a defendant's reasonableness complaints, the panel decision implicitly suggests that the district court was justified in adjusting a sentence downward based on fast-track disparity. 

Also interesting is the assertion in Ossa-Gallegos that "avoiding nationwide disparities in sentencing is only one factor to be considered under § 3553(a)."  Though this point is made to reject a reasonableness claim by a defendant here, in many other cases (such as variances from crack guidelines) this key point should undercut arguments by the government trying to reverse a district court's sentencing judgment on appeal.