Monday status conference: Supreme trio

In its busiest (and newsiest) decision day yet, today the U.S. Supreme Court issued three decisions dealing with criminal sentencing, holding that:

(1) judges have the discretion to impose shorter sentences for crack cocaine offenses than required under the federal sentencing guidelines;

(2) a court of appeals incorrectly threw out a sentence for a drug dealing offence below the sentencing guidelines where it was not supported by “extraordinary circumstances,” and

(3) receiving a gun in a trade for drugs does not constitute gun “use” for purposes of a statute that imposes a higher sentence for crimes where a gun is used.

That cases together take the Court’s 2005 decision in U.S. v. Booker -which held that the guidelines were advisory in nature - even further, holding that judges have broad discretion that cannot be overturned absent a clear abuse of discretion. It also sanctions judges’ ability to issue shorter sentences for crack cocaine offenses than the 100-to-1 crack-to-powder cocaine sentence under the guidelines.

The decisions, Kimbrough v. U.S., No. 06-6330, authored by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gall v. U.S., No. 06-799, penned by Justice John Paul Stevens, and Watson v. U.S., No. 06-571, written by Justice David Souter, can be found on the Court’s website here. More on the decisions on this blog later, tomorrow on Lawyers USA’s website, and Monday in the next issue of Lawyers USA.

You can also read more about the oral arguments in the cases from Lawyers USA’s archives here and here (sub. Req’d).

Hot debate on proposed cut in crack sentences

Officials from the Justice Department are unhappy with a proposal by the U.S. Sentencing Commission that would allow nearly 20,000 inmates incarcerated on crack cocaine convictions to apply for an earlier release date. The move could free as many as 2,000 people by the end of the year, according to some Justice Department estimates.

Speaking at a hearing yesterday, Charlotte, N.C.-based U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert blasted the plan, saying the harm to neighborhoods struggling to overcome drug-fueled crime “will be swift, it will be sudden and, in my opinion, irreversible,” according to the Associated Press.

“My concern is about the future and about the unforeseen consequences of releasing such large numbers of convicted drug offenders into vulnerable communities in a relatively short period of time,” Shappert said, according to an account in The Washington Post.

But not all the commissioners were swayed by Shappert’s comments.

According to the Post, commissioner Beryl A. Howell said he was troubled by a Nov. 1 Justice Department letter submitted to the commission that claimed the move would means tens of thousand inmates would be freed early.

“The retroactive application of the crack amendment alone would require new sentences in approximately 20,000 cases, equivalent to more than 25 % of all federal sentencings in 2006 and approximately the same as all of the crack sentences imposed during FY
2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 combined,” the letter stated. (See the letter, a PDF file, on the Commission’s website here).

“That is totally wrong,” Howell told Shappert, adding that many of those who request early release would be denied, particularly if they had been violent offenders.

The commission meets today, but a vote on the retroactive sentencing guideline changes is unlikely today, and could come as late as January. Earlier this month new prospective sentencing guidelines were implemented cutting the sentences for crack cocaine offenses in an effort to cut the disparity in sentences between cases of crack and powder cocaine possession.

Written public comments on the retroactive proposal can be found here on the Commission’s website.

Panel ponders mass cut in prison sentences

The U.S. Sentencing Commission is considering a ruling that would retroactively cut the sentences of nearly 20,000 inmates in federal prisons, a move that could allow more than 2,000 prisoners to be released within a year.

The commission already reduced the sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine possession offenders by about 10 percent amid pressure from civil rights and inmate advocacy groups who say the tougher standards for crack cocaine, as compared to the powder form of the drug, has a disproportionately harsh effect on people of color. Those guideline changes went into effect Nov. 1, and are prospective in nature.

Now the commission, faced with the same pressure, is considering a retroactive change that could spur the largest mass commutation in the panel’s 20-year history, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Currently the U.S. Supreme Court is already considering much discretion trial courts have to order penalties outside of the federal guidelines in two pending cases: Gall v. U.S. and Kimbrough v. U.S.