Criminal

By Scott Key on June 25, 2019

Yesterday, appeared as an expert witness in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on a 2255 hearing that involved a question of ineffective assistance of counsel at the plea bargaining stage. Essentially, the question for the Court was whether counsel’s advice led to Federal jury trial that should never have taken place. The Supreme Court held in Lafler a few years ago that there is the right to effective assistance…

Sentencing Law and Policy

District Court finds statutory sentence reform among “extraordinary and compelling reasons” for reducing LWOP sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)

By Douglas Berman on June 25, 2019

As regular readers know, ever since the passage of the FIRST STEP Act, I have been talking up 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) as a critical and valuable new mechanism to reduce problematic prison sentences in any and every case in which the defendant presents “extraordinary and compelling reasons” for the reductions. Though to date it seems this imprisonment-reduction authority granted by 3582(c)(1)(A) has been used almost only for so-called compassionate release situations in which a…

Aprodu | Conley, PLLC

Haverhill – Assault & Battery – Record Sealed

By Alexander Conley on June 25, 2019

Our client came to us with a 2010 assault and battery charge, that he wished to be sealed. Even though the case had been dismissed, it still appeared on his Massachusetts criminal record (CORI). The presence of the case on his record had recently caused him problems, and he had been forced to explain it to people. Our client decided that it was time to seal this 2010 record. Attorney Alexander Conley assisted our…

Sentencing Law and Policy

“The Opposite of Punishment: Imagining a Path to Public Redemption”

By Douglas Berman on June 25, 2019

The title of this post is the title of this new short paper authored by Paul Robinson and Muhammad Sarahne. Here is its abstract: The criminal justice system traditionally performs its public functions — condemning prohibited conduct, shaming and stigmatizing violators, promoting societal norms — through the use of negative examples: convicting and punishing violators. One could imagine, however, that the same public functions could also be performed through the use of positive examples: publicly acknowledging and…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Expecting (good?) criminal justice reform questions in the coming Democratic debates

By Douglas Berman on June 25, 2019

Long-time readers know I cannot resist gearing up for big Presidential debates by suggesting some criminal justice and sentencing questions I would like to hear asked and encouraging readers to do the same. (And if you want to see how the shape and nature of the criminal justice debate evolves in four-year increments, you might enjoy looking through this blog’s archive of posts connected to Campaign 2008 and sentencing issues and Campaign 2012 and sentencing …

Sentencing Law and Policy

“Which Presidential Candidate Would Give David Barren His Freedom?”

By Douglas Berman on June 25, 2019

The title of this post is the title of this notable new Filter commentary authored by Rory Fleming. I recommend the piece in full, and here are excerpts: David Barren is a Black man from Pittsburgh who was sentenced in 2010 to life without parole in the federal criminal justice system. That was during President Obama’s tenure — despite his heavily implying that no one should serve more than 20 years in prison for a…

Simple Justice

Tuesday Talk*: The Queens Test

By Scott Greenfield on June 25, 2019

I’m going to admit it from the outset: I admire Tiffany Cabán because she’s got guts. She’s running for District Attorney of Queens, and it takes courage to do so in general, and exceptional courage to do so given Cabán’s circumstances. She’s got minimal legal experience, having been admitted to practice in 2013 and working as a line public defender since then. She’s never supervised anyone, never run a shop, never had to deal with…

Simple Justice

Harp, The Victim

By Scott Greenfield on June 25, 2019

Quite a few people sent me the story of Seth Harp in the Intercept. I SHOULD HAVE kept my mouth shut about the guacamole; that made things worse for me. Otherwise, what I’m about to describe could happen to any American who travels internationally. It happened 33,295 times last year. My work as a journalist has taken me to many foreign countries, including frequent trips to Mexico. On May 13, I was returning to the…

Sentencing Law and Policy

New District Court ruling confirms that “any extraordinary and compelling reasons” can now provide basis for reducing imprisonment under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)

By Douglas Berman on June 24, 2019

As regular readers know, even since the passage of the FIRST STEP Act, I have been talking up 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) as a critical and valuable new mechanism to reduce problematic prison sentences in any and every case in which the defendant presents “extraordinary and compelling reasons” for the reductions. To date, it seemed that the imprisonment reduction authority granted by 3582(c)(1)(A) had been used almost only for so-called compassionate release situations in which…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Gundy, Rehaif and Davis, oh my: object lessons in results-oriented jurisprudence

By Douglas Berman on June 24, 2019

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With apologies to Dorothy and with uncertainty about just which Justices should be cast as the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion, the title of this post is meant in part to reflect how I am feeling overwhelmed trying to process the results and votes in three big federal criminal justice cases over the last three workdays, namely Gundy v. US, 17-6086 (S. Ct. June 20, 2019) (available here; discussed here), Rehaif…