The analysis focused on 495 cases. The decisions were issued from January 1981 through December 1987. Results indicated that the mode of disposition at the trial court and the type of counsel who filed the appeal were not significantly related to the judicial decision. However, the defendant's race and whether the trial judge departed from the sentence recommended by sentencing guidelines were significant as combined factors. Of the 20 cases with white defendants in which the trial judge departed from the guidelines, 75 percent did not have their cases affirmed on appeal. In contrast, only 28 percent of the 69 similar cases with minority defendants did not have their cases affirmed on appeal. Thus, judges were more likely not to affirm the cases involving white defendants and more likely to affirm the decisions regarding minority defendants when departures had occurred from the recommended sentence. Results support both the democratic and the legal subculture models of judicial decisionmaking. Tables, 1 case citation, and 43 references (Author summary modified)