We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. PACKAGE STORE More than a few prisoners seeking sentence reductions under Section 404 of the First Step Act – the provision that made the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act apply retroactively to crack cocaine sentences – were denied reductions because they had other non-crack counts of conviction that weren’t covered by Section 404 and kept the sentences high. In the case of Nathaniel Richardson, his sentence was life for crack distri ..read more

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. FINALLY, A CANDY CANE FOR THE FIRST STEP ACT (BUT A LUMP OF COAL TO THE BOP) I end my year-end emptying of Santa’s bag with this: The First Step Act turned five years old last week. I still wonder how the First Step Act ever passed. Back then, back in those dark November and December days in 2018, I was wondering how the bill would make it through the 115th Congress before the session expired. In fact I wrote its obituary several ..read more

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. FIRST STEP ACT TURNS FIVE YEARS OLD The anniversary is still 63 days away, but a couple of early hagiographic articles on the First Step Act’s 5th birthday are already being posted. The Crime Report said last week that First Step “now allows federal inmates to significantly reduce their actual penal custody time. That fits into the primary goal of The Act, which is to reduce recidivism among nonviolent offenders through greater em ..read more

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. DOES CONCEPCION HOLD LESSONS FOR COMPASSIONATE RELEASE? The Supreme Court ruled on the final two criminal cases of the term on Monday (although there are six more October Term 2021 cases yet to be decided before the end of the week). Back in 2009, Carlos Concepcion pled guilty to distributing at least five grams of crack cocaine, and was sentenced to 228 months in prison. The following year, Congress passed the Fair Sentencin ..read more

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. SUPREME COURT FACES HISTORIC BACKLOG IN FINAL MONTH OF TERM The Supreme Court – waiting until the bitter end to do the largest share of its work in more than 70 years – has scheduled a rare second opinion day for today. At 10 am, the Court will issue one or more opinions. It still has a lot to choose from. The court is scheduled to hand down 30 more opinions, 48% of its expected total in argued cases, as its 2021-22 term ends in s ..read more

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. SANDBAGGING NOT ALLOWED Reading this case, I could not help but recall a Firesign Theater “Nick Danger” skit in which the crusty private eye was interrogating a suspect, with questions delivered in machine-gun fashion: “Where were you on the night of the 14th? Shut up! Won’t talk, eh?” OK, I’ve dated myself. Big deal. Were he a baby boomer instead of a Gen-X’er, Tydearain Smith would know what I mean. Ty, convicted in 2008 of poss ..read more

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. DISTRICT COURT PUNT BLOCKED BY 10TH CIRCUIT In 2004, Tony Burris was sentenced to 262 months on a crack cocaine charge, the low end of his Guidelines sentencing range. After the First Step Act was passed, Tony applied for his retroactive Fair Sentencing Act reduced sentence under First Step Section 404. The government opposed the motion, arguing that Tony’s Guidelines range remained the same because the calculation should be based ..read more

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. NEWS OF THE WEIRD What’s Done is Done: In the 1st Circuit, Junito Melendez was denied a First Step Act § 404 sentence reduction under the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA). Junito finished his prison sentence in 2007 and got off supervised release three years later. Unfortunately, after ten years as a free man, he is now facing a new drug conspiracy charge. Therein lies the problem. Junito was released from his prior 109-month senten ..read more

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE… We reported last Friday on the House passage of the EQUAL Act. In our glee over the potential redress of the racially disparate crack-to-powder laws, we overlooked the House Judiciary Committee’s approval of the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, H.R. 3617, on a 26-15 vote. All Democrats on the Committee supported the bill while all but two Republicans opposed it. Among other me ..read more

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. WE’RE BA-A-A-CK… … the nine Supreme Court justices will say this morning, the first Monday in October and the first day of the Court’s new year. The high court begins its new term – which lasts until June 30, 2022 but is known as “October Term 2021” – with hearing arguments on one federal criminal issue and granting review to another. First, the grant of certiorari. Last week at its annual “long conference,” where the Court dispos ..read more