|
Newsbrief:
In
Sentencing
Ruling
Fallout,
Supreme
Court
Orders
Review
of
Federal
Sentences
for
Hundreds
of
Prisoners
1/28/05
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/372/manyreviews.shtml
The Supreme Court Monday
instructed federal courts to review the sentences of nearly 400 prisoners
who contended they were wrongly punished under federal sentencing guidelines
that the Supreme Court declared invalid on January 12. The prisoners
in question had appealed their sentences, arguing that they were improperly
sentenced by trial judges who increased their sentences based on factors
never proven before a jury, which is precisely the problem the high court
had with the federal sentencing guideline scheme.
 |
|
|
The United
States Supreme Court
|
|
In its January 12 ruling,
the court first declared the guidelines unconstitutional, then offered
a remedy by suggesting they could be on an advisory -- not a mandatory
-- basis to help judges set sentences. Judges are no longer bound
by the guidelines, but their sentences are subject to reversal if they
are found "unreasonable" on appeal.
While thousands of cases
are expected to be reviewed by lower courts to see if defendants were too
harshly punished, the Supreme Court specifically ordered the lower courts
to review 390 cases that had been on hold pending the court's Booker-Fan
Fan ruling January 12. The instruction to lower courts came in 87
pages of orders.
While some of the cases ordered
back to the lower courts are high-profile white-collar crime cases, such
as that of Kansas City pharmacist Robert Courtney, sentenced to 30 years
for diluting cancer drugs, many will be of those sentenced for federal
drug law violations. Drug offenders make up more than half of all
federal prisoners.
-- END --
|
Issue #372
-- 1/28/05
Drug
War
Chronicle
Needs
Your
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in
2005
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US
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Philippine
Soldiers,
Cops
in
Hotbed
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Beyond
Tom
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Week's
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Stories
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Blogging:
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the
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Newsbrief:
In
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Hundreds
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