A notable (but unpublished) 2007 leftover from the Tenth Circuit

A helpful reader flagged for me a notable unpublished opinion from the Tenth Circuit last year in the case of US v. Garcia-Salas, No. 07-2126 (10th Cir. Dec. 27, 2007) (available here).  Here is how the opinion starts:

Having interpreted this court’s precedents as virtually foreclosing variances from the United States Sentencing Guidelines, the district court imposed a sentence at the bottom of the Guidelines range. We might disagree with that interpretation but it is unnecessary to revisit our precedents. Under the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Gall v. United States, No. 06-7949, 2007 WL 4292116 (S. Ct. Dec. 10, 2007), and Kimbrough v. United States, No. 06-6330, 2007 WL 4292040 (S. Ct. Dec. 10, 2007), it is clear that the district court had greater sentencing discretion than it thought it did.  Accordingly, we reverse and remand for resentencing.

There are many interesting aspects of this ruling, and it spotlights for the Tenth Circuit and all other appellate courts the importance of making pellucidly clear to lower courts the extent of the sentencing discretion they have after Booker.