United States v. Smith

*523 MEMORANDUM **

Brent Edwin Smith, Jr., appeals his 135-month sentence imposed following a guilty plea conviction for distribution of approximately 38.2 grams of crack cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742 . We affirm.

To the extent Smith appeals the district court’s denial of his request for a downward departure based on sentence entrapment or sentence factor manipulation, we decline to do so, because we lack jurisdiction to review a district court’s discretionary refusal to grant a downward departure. See United States v. Timbona, 222 F.3d 688, 699 (2000). The district court, here, recognized its discretion to depart downward, but determined a departure was unwarranted. We, therefore, may not review that ruling on appeal.

We may, however, review Smith’s contention that the district court incorrectly applied the law by lumping sentencing entrapment and sentencing manipulation together as one principle, and thereby erred when it refused to downwardly depart based on his allegation that the government engaged in sentence manipulation by prolonging its investigation for the sole purpose of enhancing…