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El Chapo: Gov't. Asks for Life Plus 30 Years

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Thu Jul 11, 2019 at 02:04:57 PM EST
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Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is scheduled to be sentenced on July 17. Yesterday, the Government filed its sentencing position via a written letter (available here)to the Judge. The Government says the Court must sentence him to life on the continuing criminal enterprise count and a consecutive 30 year term for his conviction on using a firearm (a "machine gun") in connection with a drug offense. The Probation Department apparently agrees. The Government also says a life plus 30 year sentence is appropriate.

Why not just ask for life plus cancer? Maybe they are saving that request for Jeffrey Epstein.

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    El Chapo: Gov't. Asks for Life Plus 30 Years | 12 comments (12 topical)

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    Aren't both of those sentences (none / 0) (#1)
    by Peter G on Thu Jul 11, 2019 at 09:07:41 PM EST
    mandatory minimums, with the machinegun count a mandatory consecutive? If so, then it is Congress that is to blame, not the prosecutor or the judge.

    yes they are mandatory minimums (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Jul 12, 2019 at 03:26:21 AM EST
    and Congress is to blame for that.
    But the prosecutors picked the charges.
    This was a case built on cooperator testimony, and all have gotten rewarded with lower sentences for their own misdeeds, for ratting out their confederates. Some will get even more of a reduction once El Chapo is sentenced.

    Parent
    also, they didn't just (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Jul 12, 2019 at 03:28:16 AM EST
    claim the life plus 30 is legally required, they said it's an appropriate sentence for him. That is absurd, since no one can do life plus 30. They don't make corpses continue to do time.

    Parent
    ok, works for me.: (1.00 / 2) (#5)
    by cpinva on Fri Jul 12, 2019 at 08:09:54 AM EST
    "Why not just ask for life plus cancer?"

    and make it whatever the worst cancer is, and none of those pain meds either. the guy is murderous scum, unless you have evidence to the contrary, so I really have no problem taking him off the street, forever.

    "They don't make corpses continue to do time."

    you know better than to make an absurdly wrong claim like this. they bury deceased inmates in prison cemeteries all the time.

    while I appreciate/share your (correct) concern, regarding cases made, by getting other scumbags to turn on the bigger scumbags, that's generally how these big cases are made. again, if you have evidence that the lower level scumbags are lying in this case, then as an officer of the court, you're bound to bring that to the attention of the court, who in turn is bound to provide it to the defense attorneys. since I've seen no indication that you have, and have done so, I must assume (reasonably, I think) that you "just don't like it." your right of course, and you also have the right to try and get the law changed.

    why not jump into the Democratic Presidential campaign? heck, with all the people in it already, you might as well. compared to most of the dross in it now, you'd immediately vault to the top 5.

    Parent

    I wonder if he gets (none / 0) (#6)
    by jondee on Fri Jul 12, 2019 at 09:40:33 AM EST
    marriage proposals through the mail, the way Richard Ramirez did.

    All the lonely people, where do they all come from?

    Parent

    Speaking of absurdity, (none / 0) (#9)
    by Jack E Lope on Tue Jul 16, 2019 at 09:57:59 AM EST
    "They don't make corpses continue to do time."

    you know better than to make an absurdly wrong claim like this. they bury deceased inmates in prison cemeteries all the time.


    Your absurd claim appears to be that corpses are made to do time, and burial in a prison cemetery is part of the sentence handed down by the court.

    Nowadays, it's quite rare for a corpse to serve a sentence.

    Parent

    So Why Does Such a Sentence Exist? (none / 0) (#4)
    by RickyJim on Fri Jul 12, 2019 at 08:08:46 AM EST
    Is there some practical difference with respect to a possible parole that arises if you add on years to to life sentence?

    Parent
    Parole was abolished in federal sentencing (none / 0) (#7)
    by Peter G on Fri Jul 12, 2019 at 11:20:04 AM EST
    in 1987. A federal sentence (other than one for natural life, as we are discussing here) must be served in full, less the potential (and likelihood) for a 15% reduction for good behavior.  The few mechanisms that exist for the reduction of federal sentences, in extraordinary circumstances, after they are imposed, mostly do apply to life terms and mandatory sentences, however.

    Parent
    CBS (none / 0) (#8)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jul 15, 2019 at 06:30:08 PM EST
    Man gets life plus 419 years in deadly Charlottesville car attack



    Parent

    Sentence imposed on El Chapo (none / 0) (#10)
    by Peter G on Wed Jul 17, 2019 at 12:36:16 PM EST
    of life plus 30 years, that is, the mandatory minimum prescribed by our harsh federal criminal laws for leading an ongoing drug business and using a machine gun in the course of doing so. Having escaped on prior occasions from maximum security prisons, he is sure to be designated to serve this sentence at the AdMax (administrative maximum, or "super-max") facility in Florence, Colorado. A place Jeralyn has visited, but I have not.

    El Chapo may not be the best (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Jul 17, 2019 at 12:48:28 PM EST
    poster boy for trying to bring awareness to harsh federal criminal laws.

    Parent
    We used to drive by the super max (none / 0) (#12)
    by fishcamp on Sat Jul 20, 2019 at 11:15:46 AM EST
    prison in Florence, Co. on our way to Denver from Aspen.  When Indepence Pass is open in the summer that route through South Park is one of two ways to Denver.  It always gave me the hebee jebees.

    Parent
    El Chapo: Gov't. Asks for Life Plus 30 Years | 12 comments (12 topical)

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