United States v. Amrhu A. Dyce

How later courts described this case

• finding that district court's downward departure under section 5H1.6 on the basis that the defendant was breast feeding her child at the time of sentencing was erroneous; court reasoned in part that "there is no evidence in the record supporting the district court's statement in its Sentencing Opinion that the infant was `totally dependent on [Dyce] for nourishment,' nor is there any evidence that the child could not have been fed from a bottle."
• holding that, "Mike family responsibilities, a defendant’s education, employment record, and various good works are not ordinarily relevant in determining departures,” and may be the basis for one only if the defendant is likely to make a contribution to society of “an extraordinary degree”
• holding that the district court erred when it departed based on the defendant’s status as a single mother with three children under the age of four, one of whom was being breast-fed, and where incarceration would require placing the children in foster care
• holding that the district court erred when it departed based on defendant's status as a single mother with three children under the age of four, one of whom was being breast-fed, and where incarceration would require placing the children in foster care

Written by the judges who cited it.