[NOT FOR PUBLICATION]
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
No. 96-1666
UNITED STATES,
Appellee,
v.
RUFINO SANTOS, A/K/A EL FILIPINO,
Defendant, Appellant.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
[Hon. Salvador E. Casellas, U.S. District Judge]
Before
Selya, Boudin and Lynch,
Circuit Judges.
Irma R. Valldejuli on brief for appellant.
Guillermo Gil, United States Attorney, Nelson Perez-Sosa,
Assistant United States Attorney, and Jose A. Quiles-Espinosa, Senior
Litigation Counsel, on brief for appellee.
November 26, 1996
Per Curiam. Upon careful review of the briefs and
record, we find no merit in defendant's appellate argument,
and so we affirm the sentence imposed by the district court.
Nothing in the plea agreement or the facts of this case
required the government to move for a downward departure
under U.S.S.G. 5K1.1, and there was no suggestion of
prosecutorial misconduct. In these circumstances, the
district court had no authority to consider such a departure.
See Wade v. United States, 504 U.S. 181, 185-86 (1992).
Because the merits of this appeal are easily resolved in
the government's favor, we do not address the government's
challenge to our jurisdiction. See Kotler v. American
Tobacco Co., 926 F.2d 1217, 1221 (1st Cir. 1990).
Affirmed. See 1st Cir. Loc. R. 27.1.
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