Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder issued this Memo on the Department of Justice's Policy on Charging and Sentencing, 5/19/2010 Holder Memo re Charging and Sentencing, which supersedes prior DOJ memos. The Memo acknowledges that although the "guidelines remain important in furthering the goal of national uniformity throughout the federal system," that charging decisions and plea agreements must also consider the facts and circumstances of a particular case and that prosecutors must consider whether sentences they advocate are consistent with the purposes of sentencing in 18 U.S.C. §3553(a). Significantly, prosecutors are free to request variances from a guideline range when such request is based upon specific and articulable factors and approved by a supervisor. Worth keeping in mind the next time a prosecutor says he or she cannot agree to a below-guideline sentence in a plea agreement.