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Fed. Judge Blasts Mandatory Minimum Sentences

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Thu Jan 19, 2006 at 11:28:33 PM EST
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The defendant is 32, with an IQ of 72. He's a low level drug dealer. Under the federal mandatory minimum sentencing statutes, the Judge had no choice but to impose a sentence of life without parole. The Judge is angry.

Judge David N. Hurd said child rapists and murderers will go free on parole while Justin D. Powell languishes in prison for life, largely because the defendant was convicted of drug crimes twice during his teenage years, more than a decade before the instant offense. Because of those prior convictions, the sole sentencing option was life, Hurd said.

"The increment of harm in this case bears no rational relationship to the increment of punishment that I must impose," Hurd said at a sentencing proceeding last week in Utica, N.Y. "This is what occurs when Congress sets [a] mandatory minimum sentence which distorts the entire judicial process... . As a result, I am obligated to and will now impose this unfair and, more important, unjust sentence."

How did this happen?

Court records show Powell was caught up in a sting operation orchestrated by a drug dealer looking for leniency. Powell was, in the words of a prosecutor, a "worker bee" for his boss, a crack dealer named Leon Henry. Both were arrested as a result of their dealings with the confidential informant and both were convicted of dealing in 50 or more grams of crack cocaine.

The boss only got 20 years, because he didn't have two teenage convictions. In an earlier opinion in the case, the Second Circuit declared,

"It is ... Congress' prerogative to set mandatory minimums, and in this case the mandatory minimum is life imprisonment."

This is a common occurrence in federal courts around the country. Last week I was part of a sentencing hearing of five defendants who had pleaded guilty in a cocaine conspiracy. I watched as the girlfriend of one of the major players who cooperated with the government but had priors years ago got a ten year sentence, while my client in the same case, who did not cooperate and had no priors, got 27 months.

Unlike the federal sentencing guidelines which are no longer mandatory since Booker, mandatory minimum sentencing statutes are still unassailable. They need to be changed.

As I wrote here, they came in under Reagan, but were expanded under Clinton. If either Gore or Hillary are going to get my vote, they will first need to pledge to repeal them and make them presumptive, with Judges having the option to depart below them in cases in which they deem it appropriate.

One other horror story: Dracy McKneely, who got a life sentence on a conviction of 251 grams of crack. I did not represent him at trial, only in his appeal. The last words of the opinon affirming his conviction are:

Although it is tragic for a twenty-three-year-old to spend the rest of his life in prison, Congress has provided this penalty for drug crimes involving large quantities of cocaine. We must follow the law.

The law must be changed.

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    Fed. Judge Blasts Mandatory Minimum Sentences | 8 comments (8 topical)
    Re: Fed. Judge Blasts Mandatory Minimum Sentences (none / 0) (#1)
    by wishful on Fri Jan 20, 2006 at 07:32:24 AM EST
    Who cares? No, really, who cares? And how can everyday citizens help them to bring democracy to the USA, including making sentencing just once again?

    Re: Fed. Judge Blasts Mandatory Minimum Sentences (none / 0) (#2)
    by yudel on Fri Jan 20, 2006 at 08:44:00 AM EST
    And what if the judge had broken the law, and handed out a 10 year sentence? Or a five year sentence? Does it make it better to be cruel and unreasonable if one knows that one is being cruel and unreasonable, but is just following orders? I'm personally amused that this took place in Utica. That's where, in 1981, Anthony Scalzo, the man whose DWI killed my sister and two friends, received a $50 fine.

    Re: Fed. Judge Blasts Mandatory Minimum Sentences (none / 0) (#3)
    by Patrick on Fri Jan 20, 2006 at 10:39:48 AM EST
    I think a rapist would receive a life sentence after the third conviction don't you? While I tend to agree murderers and rapists should receive longer sentences for initial violations (Like one strike and your out), this guy had ample time to figure out he wasn't doing well with his choice of careers and should have made a change. Since he can't do it, soceity now bears the burden to warehouse him for years.

    Re: Fed. Judge Blasts Mandatory Minimum Sentences (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 20, 2006 at 10:44:54 AM EST
    "The increment of harm in this case bears no rational relationship to the increment of punishment that I must impose,"

    Re: Fed. Judge Blasts Mandatory Minimum Sentences (none / 0) (#5)
    by Johnny on Fri Jan 20, 2006 at 01:58:41 PM EST
    this guy had ample time to figure out he wasn't doing well with his choice of careers and should have made a change. Since he can't do it, soceity now bears the burden to warehouse him for years.
    People with an IQ of 72 often have trouble figuring out how to cook french fries... You throw a mentally disabled individual in a culture of drugs, poverty, violence etc. and your "personal responsibility" theory can go piss up a rope. This individual needed help the first time he was busted, the state failed him, and failed him big-time. We, you and I, deserve to pay for this man's life, both through not doing enough to ensure his easement into the culture, and for being complicent in establishing spreadsheet sentencing. As a cop, I know you relish the idea of mandatory minumums, but I think you are dead wrong on this one, and your lack of compassion, especially for those who can barely think, says volumes about your character.

    Re: Fed. Judge Blasts Mandatory Minimum Sentences (none / 0) (#6)
    by Patrick on Fri Jan 20, 2006 at 02:42:16 PM EST
    This individual needed help the first time he was busted, the state failed him, and failed him big-time.
    The state? That's where we differ, not on my relish for all things mandatory, but on your belief that the state owns him something that that it failed to provide. IMO, the state owns him nothing and could not have failed him. Many people with low IQ'a function within the confines of the law. If anyone or anything failed him it's his family and friends for failing to instill an appropriate set of values that would allow him to function in society without having to resort to crime. Sorry if my lack of sympathy for a three time loser strikes you as callous, perhaps it even is a bit callous, but he's no innocent victim. I have no particular desire to have mandatory minimums, I think all sentences should be just and take into consideration all factors including past history of criminal conduct to determine an appropriate sentence length, but there are people from both ends of the spectrum and without some guidlines, we'd have people walking for the same crimes other people were serving life for based on the whims of whatever judge they happened to come before and that is patently unfair. So, if he's just an innocent victim, you take on his cause and get him released and he can come live with you. Otherwise, I'm OK with warehousing career criminals. Rehabilitation takes more than just the state's desire to reintroduce a prisoner into society. The prisoner has to willing to do some of the work. I just love the emphasis they give to the 10 years he lived between his previous offenses and the one that landed him where he is. It's like they want us to assume he lived a model life right up to the day he was arrested when he decided to possess 50+ grams of crack for distribution. Boy was he unlucky. Heard it before, it's probably true in less than .01% of cases. My sympathy is reserved for the family and friends of the victims of the rapists and murderers who are going to be able to get out of prison. The judge is right about that, but for the wrong reasons. They should have gotten stiffer sentences too.

    Re: Fed. Judge Blasts Mandatory Minimum Sentences (none / 0) (#7)
    by Johnny on Sat Jan 21, 2006 at 06:34:22 AM EST
    but he's no innocent victim.
    I looked all over, and did not see where I called him "an innocent victim". Sorry Patrick, with the right guidance, this man could have made it. Unfortunately, with people like you in charge, we have another lifer on our hands. Thanks. Now, back to the story.
    based on the whims of whatever judge they happened to come before and that is patently unfair.
    As opposed to your whims?
    My sympathy is reserved for the family and friends of the victims of the rapists and murderers who are going to be able to get out of prison.
    And by extension, I assume you mean my sympathies lie only with those convicted of the crime.
    Rehabilitation takes more than just the state's desire to reintroduce a prisoner into society. The prisoner has to willing to do some of the work.
    Agreed. But your statement contradicts sentiments you express elsewhere. If you believed what you wrote there, you would be holding the state at least partially responsible for this man being a lifer.
    I just love the emphasis they give to the 10 years he lived between his previous offenses and the one that landed him where he is.
    In a lot of states, ten years is long enough for a DUI to drop off yor record, a crime which is arguably more detrimental to society as a whole than dealing drugs.
    Many people with low IQ'a function within the confines of the law. If anyone or anything failed him it's his family and friends for failing to instill an appropriate set of values that would allow him to function in society without having to resort to crime.
    Many people with high IQ function very well outside of the law. How was this man's home life? Anyone know? If he came, as I suspect, from other than a white, suburban, middle class family in a nice cookie-cutter development, chances of him having friends to gently push him in the right direction are slim to none. Ditto on his parent(s?). So what is your solution? Keep blaming people who probably did not exist in the first place? Maybe take an active part in helping people out? Or just keep hoping against hope that people without the background and oppurtunity a lot of americans have had will miraculously pull themselves out of the ghetto and enter the glorious middle class?

    Re: Fed. Judge Blasts Mandatory Minimum Sentences (none / 0) (#8)
    by Patrick on Sat Jan 21, 2006 at 09:49:06 AM EST
    Sorry Patrick, with the right guidance, this man could have made it.
    My point exactly, but not from the state from his family.
    As opposed to your whims?
    They're not my whims, I would have figured that was clear enough.
    And by extension, I assume you mean my sympathies lie only with those convicted of the crime.
    Nope, I can't speak for you.
    Agreed. But your statement contradicts sentiments you express elsewhere. If you believed what you wrote there, you would be holding the state at least partially responsible for this man being a lifer.
    I don't see it that way, perhaps the contradiction is in your interpretation.
    So what is your solution? Keep blaming people who probably did not exist in the first place?
    Warehouse repeat offenders. I think that was clear. People are responsible for their actions.
    Maybe take an active part in helping people out?
    Absolutely, once the person shows a desire to change, but that's the hard part. Discerning the difference between a desire to change and a desire to avoid a lengthy pris9on sentence.
    Or just keep hoping against hope that people without the background and oppurtunity a lot of americans have had will miraculously pull themselves out of the ghetto and enter the glorious middle class?
    Many do, with and without the states help. In fact, I would argue that it's not a miracle, just self-determination with the use of programs that are already in place.

    Fed. Judge Blasts Mandatory Minimum Sentences | 8 comments (8 topical)