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Federal Judiciary

Second Circuit Sentencing Blog

Summaries and analysis of ALL sentencing decisions in the Second Circuit and the disrict courts of the Second Circuit.

Post Frequency: 0.6/day

Last Entry: November 23, 2010 at 15:17:29

Serving Time For The Same Crime

Posted on January 09, 2009
United States v. Armstrong, No. 07-CR-874 (JBW), 2008 WL 5459177 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 22, 2008)This is interesting. Armstrong pled guilty to a serious offense -- he was "a member of a gang that disturbed the peace and threatened the safety of...

Hard Time Getting A Job In The Future? Non-Guidelines Sentence

Posted on January 09, 2009
United States v. Remy, No. 07-CR-5 (JBW), 2008 WL 5458951 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 24, 2008)Simple case. Remy pled guilty to one count of cocaine importation. His advisory Guidelines range was 30-37 months, although he qualified for a two level "safety valve"....

Adelson Affirmed

Posted on January 06, 2009
United States v. Adelson, Nos. 06-2738-cr (L), 06-3179 (XAP) (2d Cir. Dec. 9, 2008) (found here)Sentence affirmed. Need I say more?As you'll recall, Judge Rakoff -- in a blistering opinion critical of the Guidelines -- sentenced Richard Adelson to 42...

Order to Immediately Pay Restitution in Full When Defendant Has No Ability to Pay Constitutes an Abuse of Discretion

Posted on January 05, 2009
United States v. Mammedov, No. 06-2971-cr., 2008 WL 5411080 (2d Cir. Dec. 30, 2008)Notwithstanding his undisputed lack of financial resources and inability to pay, the district court in Mammedov failed to provide a restitution schedule for a $325,000 award of...

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New Year, Fresh Start

Posted on January 04, 2009
I'm back. And for those who have loyally read this blog and relied on the information it provided, rest assured that 2009 will bring the same timely posts that I've brought in the past few years -- information about all...

The Same Notice Rules Apply To Non-Guidelines Fines

Posted on March 19, 2008
United States v. Elfgeeh, 515 F.3d 100 (2d Cir. 2008) In this post, we noted that a district court's failure to advise a defendant that it intended to impose an adverse non-Guidelines sentence constituted reversible error. Well, the same principles...

Crack Sentencing Reduction From 235 to 212 Months

Posted on March 19, 2008
United States v. Wood, No. CR-88-0723 (CPS), 2008 WL 399253 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 12, 2008) On September 12, 1989, Wood was sentenced to concurrent sentences of 235 months imprisonment for a narcotics charges, and a consecutive 60 month term of imprisonment...

Crack Sentencing Reduction From 62 to 60 Months

Posted on March 19, 2008
United States v. Sosa, No. 03 Cr. 502 (JGK), 2008 WL 336472 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 6, 2008) Simply story: Recalculation of Guidelines offense level after new crack Guidelines are applied results in reduction of sentence from 62 to 60 months. And,...

Multiple Sentencing Errors Lead To Remand

Posted on March 19, 2008
United States v. DeMott, 513 F.3d 55 (2d Cir. 2008) In this post-Booker world, it's hard to believe that a district court could commit so many errors in one case -- so many, in fact, that even the Government conceded...

Supervised Release Conditions Related To Prior Criminal Conduct OK With Second Circuit

Posted on March 19, 2008
United States v. Dupes, 513 F.3d 338 (2d Cir. 2008) Following a guilt plea to securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud, the court sentenced Dupes to 38 months incarceration and 3 years of supervised release. Among other things,...

Private Practice

Posted on March 19, 2008
Setting up my own private practice has taken a toll on the time I've had available for blogging. But, I'm back on track now, and hope to fully catch up on all the Second Circuit action within the next week.

The Ethical Entrepreneur

Posted on February 04, 2008
United States v. Alatsas, No. 06-CR-473 (JBW), 2008 WL 238559 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 16, 2008) Notwithstanding a loss figure of $450,000 and an advisory Guidelines range of 24 to 30 months imprisonment, the Court imposed a probationary sentence based on: (1)...

Plea Agreements and Reasonable Waiver

Posted on January 29, 2008
United States v. Abbadessa (Chinnici), No. 06-2398-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 29, 2007) (found here ) What terms did the plea agreement include such that Second Circuit wrote that "[a]s for his sentence, there is some doubt as to whether the...

Crack Remand for Consideration of Kimbrough and Gall

Posted on January 26, 2008
United States v. Smith, No. 06-2815-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 24, 2008) Smith was sentenced to 188 months imprisonment for various crack offenses. Prior to sentencing, however, he had asked the court to take into account the disparities beween the Guidelines....

More Crack Retroactivity Action

Posted on January 22, 2008
United States v. Wood, Nos. CR-88-0723 (CPS), CV-94-4652 (CPS), CV-96-2498 (CPS), CV-02-1678 (CPS), CV-06-2851 (CPS), 2008 WL 163694 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 15, 2008) Wood was sentenced to 235 months for his narcotics conviction. On December 17, 2007 he filed a pro...

First Notice Of Intent To Resentence Based On The New Retroactive Crack Guidelines

Posted on January 19, 2008
United States v. Polanco, No. 02 cr. 442-02 (GEL), 2008 WL 144825 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 15, 2008) Maybe I've missed something, but Polanco seems to be the first revisiting of a crack sentence since the Sentencing Commission decided to apply the...

Establishing That A Victim Is, In Fact, Vulnerable

Posted on January 19, 2008
United States v. Lee, No. 06-5043-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 18, 2008) (found here) On appeal, Lee claimed that the district court's sentence was procedurally unreasonable because it miscalculated the advisory Guidelines offense level. And the Second Circuit agreed because the...

Second Circuit Indicates How It Views Gall: Deep Deference

Posted on January 19, 2008
United States v. Bowles, No. 06-4319-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 16, 2008) (found here) The court sentenced Bowles to 87 months imprisonment and lifetime supervised release notwithstanding an advisory Guidelines range of 2 to 3 years supervised release. Bowles then appealed,...

How Could This Have Happened?

Posted on January 19, 2008
United States v. Day, Docket Nos. 05-4285-cr(L), 06-5737-cr(CON), 06-5820-cr(CON) (2d Cir. Jan. 15, 2008) (found here) Day's original sentence was reversed and remanded because the district court erroneously believed that the two minimum sentences for his narcotics convicted must run...

A Warning From The Second Circuit

Posted on January 15, 2008
United States v. Whitley, No. 05-3359-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 15, 2007) (found here ) Whitley's attorney filed a motion to withdraw pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967) on the ground that there are no non-frivolous grounds for...

Failure To Fulfill "Open Court" Requirement Not Plain Error

Posted on January 11, 2008
United States v. Espinoza, Docket No. 05-0711-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 11, 2008) (found here ) The PSR included a 4 level role enhancement in Espinoza's advisory Guidelines range. At the sentencing hearing, his counsel asserted that no role enhancement should...

Non-Guidelines Sentences Based On Fast-Track Disparity Still Possible In The Second Circuit?

Posted on January 03, 2008
United States v. Liriano-Blanco, Docket No. 06-2919-cr (Jan. 2, 2008) (found here) Liriano-Blanco pled guilty to illegal re-entry charges. The district court declined to impose a non-Guidelines sentence because it believed that it could not do so based on fast-track...

Procedural Error Where District Court Failed To Consider Role Enhancement

Posted on January 03, 2008
United States v. Collazo, No. 06-5236-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 3, 2008) (found here) The Government appealed the district court's failure to apply a 3 level role enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. � 3B1.1(b). The Second Circuit found that, although the Guidelines...

First Crack Reasonableness Remand In The Second Circuit

Posted on January 03, 2008
United States v. Johnson, No. 06-4001-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 3, 2008) (found here) Johnson is the first post-Kimbrough/Gall remand that I've seen on the question of whether a crack sentence was reasonable. Although the Second Circuit doesn't opine on the...

Government Crosses The Line And Breaches Plea Agreement

Posted on January 02, 2008
United States v. Griffin, Docket No. 05-4016-cr (2d Cir. Dec. 21, 2007) An important case involving the circumstances under which the Government can be held to account for breaching a plea agreement. The Government agreed in Griffin's plea agreement "not...

Non-Guidelines Narcotics Sentence Based on Family Circumstances

Posted on January 01, 2008
United States v. Aristizabal, No. 07-CR-101-01 (JBW), 2007 WL 4555900 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 20, 2007) Yet another non-Guidelines sentence imposed by Judge Weinstein, the reasons for which were the following: "The offense is a serious one [distribution and possession with intent...

Reversal And Remand Where Government Breached Plea Agreement

Posted on December 17, 2007
United States v. Turner, No. 06-0967-cr (2d Cir. Dec. 17, 2007) (found here) Turner went way off the tracks. He was sentenced to 240 months. But he requested, with the Government's consent, that his sentence be remanded to the district...

Reveral Where District Court Did Not Make Adequate Findings Concerning Nature, Severity And Likely Duration Of Injury

Posted on December 17, 2007
United States v. Guang, et al., Docket Nos. 05-4724-cr(L), 05-6171-cr(CON), 2007 WL 4335556 (2d Cir. Dec. 13, 2007) Among other things, the district court increased the Guidelines offense level under Section 2B3.2(b)(4), which provides for an increase in offense level...

Short Involvement In Conspiracy Leads To Shorter Sentence

Posted on December 17, 2007
United States v. Hurtado, No. 06-CR-741 (JBW), 2007 WL 4322972 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 4, 2007) Hurtado's advisory Guidelines range was 46 to 57 months for his narcotics conspiracy. But the court sentenced him to 18 months incarceration. Several reasons relating to...

Hard Work Does Pay Off

Posted on December 17, 2007
United States v. Rincon, No. 07-CR-44-01, 2007 WL 4322979 (JBW) (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 6, 2007) Rincon pled guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, an offense for which the Probation Department calculated an advisory Guidelines range of...

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