Cite as: 518 U. S. 120 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
court to impose "a sentence lower than what the [c]ourt ha[d] determined to be the otherwise applicable [sic] under the sentencing guidelines." Id., at 13-14. The letter specifically noted that "[t]his motion is made pursuant to Section 5K1.1." Id., at 13. The Government did not request a sentence below the statutory minimum, although, again, it did not state that the Government opposed such a departure. The District Court granted the Government's motion and departed downward from the sentencing range set by the Guidelines. However, because the Government had not also moved the District Court to depart below the statutory minimum pursuant to 18 U. S. C. § 3553(e), the court ruled that it had no authority to so depart; it thus imposed the 10-year minimum sentence required by statute.
On appeal, petitioner contended that the District Court had erred in concluding that it had no authority to depart below the statutory minimum. A § 5K1.1 motion, he argued, not only allows the court to depart downward from the sentencing level set by the Guidelines but also permits the court to depart below a lower statutory minimum. See United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual § 5K1.1, p. s. (Nov. 1995) (USSG). A divided panel of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected that argument and affirmed the 10-year sentence. 55 F. 3d 130 (1995). A petition for rehearing was denied, with six judges dissenting.
As we noted in Wade v. United States, 504 U. S. 181, 185 (1992), the Courts of Appeals disagree as to whether a Government motion attesting to the defendant's substantial assistance and requesting that the district court depart below the minimum of the applicable sentencing range under the Guidelines also permits the district court to depart below any statutory minimum.1
1 Compare 55 F. 3d 130 (CA3 1995) and United States v. Rodriguez-Morales, 958 F. 2d 1441 (CA8), cert. denied, 506 U. S. 940 (1992), with United States v. Ah-Kai, 951 F. 2d 490 (CA2 1991), United States v. Beck-ett, 996 F. 2d 70 (CA5 1993), United States v. Wills, 35 F. 3d 1192 (CA7 1994), and United States v. Keene, 933 F. 2d 711 (CA9 1991).
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