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Sentencing Law and Policy 
News, issues, commentary and provides resources related to sentencing law and policy.
Post Frequency: 77.7/day Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 10:54:24 Recent Entries: 4815
By Douglas A. Berman
Go to Sentencing Law and Policy, find other Criminal Law blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Second Circuit Affirms Imposition of a Ten-Year Statutory Mandatory Minimum in Place at the Time of the Offense Despite Its Expiration Prior to the Sentencing Date
Posted on August 04, 2008In United States v. Klump, available here, the Second Circuit held that the district court properly applied the ten-year statutory mandatory minimum sentence in place at the time the defendant committed the crime, despite the shorter statutory mandatory minimum in...
Medellin?s Execution Set to Move Forward
Posted on August 04, 2008As of this posting, the execution of José Ernesto Medellin, the Mexican national on Texas death row for the rape and murder of two teenage girls in 1993, is scheduled to occur as planned on Tuesday evening. Medellin?s case, which...
Western Australia Takes Steps to End Mandatory One-Third Reductions in Criminal Sentences
Posted on August 04, 2008In SL&P's attempt to cover the world of sentencing, we take note of an interesting story on the other side of the Pacific. The Western Australian government has taken steps to repeal the transitional provisions of the truth in sentencing...
Guest Blogging
Posted on August 04, 2008Dear Readers: Proskauer Rose is guest blogging while Doug is on vacation. Posts by individual authors are signed by each author. Posts that result from a collaborative effort are signed by "Guest bloggers." We may be contacted at this address...
Ninth Circuit Holds Lenient Sentence Does Not Rise to Abuse of Discretion
Posted on August 01, 2008After pleading guilty to several counts of healthcare fraud, theft and money laundering, the defendant in United States v. Ruff, available here, a case decided today by the Ninth Circuit, was originally sentenced to 12 months and a day in...
Judge Posner on the ?Substantial Step? Requirement of Criminal Attempt
Posted on August 01, 2008Although unrelated to sentencing, yesterday?s decision by Judge Richard Posner includes a noteworthy (and literary) discussion of what is required to convict an individual of criminal attempt. In United States v. Gladish, the Seventh Circuit overturned the conviction of a...
Eighth Circuit Upholds Constitutionality of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act
Posted on August 01, 2008As discussed in this post on the Sex Crimes blog, the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion yesterday in United States v. May in which it upheld the constitutionality of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (?SORNA?). Although the defendant,...
Jessica?s Law Applied Following Conviction in Maine
Posted on August 01, 2008In the first application of Maine?s Jessica?s Law after a trial, a man convicted of sexually-assaulting a 4-year-old girl was sentenced to 22 years in prison. An article detailing the case notes that: Assistant District Attorney Eric Walker said the....
First Circuit Affirms Sentences of 35 and 55 Years Imposed Due to Murder Proven by Preponderance Standard
Posted on August 01, 2008In United States v. Avilés-Colón, the First Circuit yesterday held that crimes for which a defendant is not convicted ? including murder ? may be taken into account during sentencing when proven by a preponderance of the evidence. While the...
U.S. Biodefense Research Apparently Commits Suicide in Wake of Impending Charges in Anthrax Investigation
Posted on August 01, 2008As reported by this Associated Press article and numerous other media outlets, Bruce E. Ivins, a U.S. biodefense researcher, apparently committed suicide as the Justice Department was preparing to file an indictment against him stemming from the 2001 anthrax attacks...
Guest Blogging
Posted on August 01, 2008Dear Readers: Proskauer Rose is guest blogging while Doug is on vacation. Posts by individual authors are signed by each author. Posts that result from a collaborative effort are signed by "Guest bloggers." We may be contacted at this address...
Seventh Circuit Rules Appellate Counsel "Deficient" For Failure to Raise Booker Claim
Posted on July 31, 2008Just before Booker was decided by the Supreme Court (but several months after the Seventh Circuit had held that the mandatory guidelines were unconstitutional in the same case and the Supreme Court had granted certiorari), Brett Stallings was sentenced to...
Guest Blogging
Posted on July 31, 2008Dear Readers: Proskauer Rose is guest blogging while Doug is on vacation. Posts by individual authors are signed by each author. Posts that result from a collaborative effort are signed by "Guest bloggers." Please direct all questions and comments to...
Eleventh Circuit Holds That Procedural Sentencing Requirements Must Be Strictly Followed
Posted on July 31, 2008In an unpublished per curiam decision today (available here), the Eleventh Circuit made clear that judges must strictly adhere to the statutorily imposed procedural requirements of sentencing. United States v. Narvaez involved a defendant who pled guilty and was sentenced...
Federal Defenders Paper on Acquitted and Uncharged Crimes
Posted on July 31, 2008Amy Baron-Evans, who is the National Sentencing Resource Counsel at the Federal Defenders, has alerted us to a revised paper on "Deconstructing the Relevant Conduct Guideline: Challenging the Use of Uncharged and Acquitted Offenses in Sentencing," which she wrote along...
Arizona Finds Success with Innovative Prison Program
Posted on July 31, 2008This article from the Christian Science Monitor discusses the "Get Ready" program being used in Arizona's prison system. The program seeks to prepare inmates for reentry into society beginning at the very outset of their incarceration by assessing their work...
Add Prof. Tribe to those urging rehearing in Kennedy
Posted on July 31, 2008Though I'm on vacation and really enjoying the work of the Guest bloggers, I had a bit of on-line time this afternoon and now I cannot resist spotlighting this morning's Wall Street Journal op-ed by HLS Professor Laurence Tribe's headlined...
More Circuit Activity About The Meaning Of ?Victim? In § 2B1.1
Posted on July 30, 2008As previously discussed here, the Fifth Circuit held on Tuesday that the reimbursed credit card holders in a fraud conspiracy were not ?victims? within the meaning of § 2B1.1 because the district court did not point to any evidence establishing...
Former NBA Referee Sentenced to 15 Months
Posted on July 30, 2008As reported by The New York Times here, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was sentenced on Tuesday to 15 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Carol B. Amon following his guilty plea to charges related to his role in...
Senator Ted Stevens Indicted
Posted on July 30, 2008As noted at the White-Collar Crime Prof Blog here and covered by numerous major media outlets, Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is in hot water. According to the indictment and the DOJ press release Senator Stevens is facing seven felony counts...
Guest Blogging
Posted on July 30, 2008Dear Readers: Proskauer Rose is guest blogging while Doug is on vacation. Posts by individual authors are signed by each author. Posts that result from a collaborative effort are signed by "Guest bloggers." Please direct all questions and comments to...
Katie Gerber, a Summer Associate
Posted on July 29, 2008Katie Gerber, a Summer Associate at Proskauer Rose, posts this summary of an interesting Fifth Circuit case decided recently: The Fifth Circuit has issued an opinion interpreting the term ?victim? under section 2B1.1(b)(2) of the Sentencing Guidelines in United States...
Government Responds To Heller Motion
Posted on July 29, 2008A helpful reader alerted us that the government has responded to at least one motion to dismiss a federal criminal indictment for felon in possession based on Heller and the Second Amendment. As previously summarized here, a hearing on this...
Former Newark, NJ Mayor Sentenced to 27 Months
Posted on July 29, 2008As highlighted in this NY Times article, Former Newark, NJ mayor Sharpe James was sentenced today to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine for his April conviction on corruption charges. James was found guilty of...
Eighth Circuit Affirms A Sentence of Probation For A Major Crack Dealer
Posted on July 29, 2008The Eighth Circuit recently issued a decision (available here) holding that a significant downward variance was appropriate for a defendant who pleaded guilty to distributing 102 grams of crack cocaine. The defendant?s serious health conditions, along with extraordinary post-arrest rehabilitation,...
President Bush OKs Military Execution
Posted on July 29, 2008As detailed in this NY Times article, President Bush recently made history by approving the first execution by the military in nearly 50 years: As commander in chief, the president has the final authority to approve capital punishment under the...
Will the Supreme Court Rehear Kennedy v. Louisiana?
Posted on July 29, 2008As discussed by SCOTUSblog here, the DOJ on Monday asked the Supreme Court to rehear the case of Kennedy v. Louisiana, in which the Court struck down Louisiana's law permitting the death penalty for child rape. As discussed in a...
Guest Blogging
Posted on July 29, 2008Dear Readers: Proskauer Rose is guest blogging while Doug is on vacation. Posts by individual authors are signed by each author. Posts that result from a collaborative effort are signed by "Guest bloggers." Please direct all questions and comments to...
Defendants Receive A (Short-Lived?) Benefit From A "Judicial Gaffe"
Posted on July 28, 2008After Francis Lawrence and his co-defendants successfully filed motions to reduce their sentences under the retroactive sentencing guideline reductions for crack cocaine offenses, the district court?apparently inadvertently?included language in the sentencing orders that converted each sentence into ?time served...
Fifth Circuit Mostly Affirms in Controversial Border Agents Case
Posted on July 28, 2008As previewed in this post, a Fifth Circuit panel today decided the appeals of U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who were sentenced to prison terms of 11 and 12 years, respectively, for shooting an illegal...
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Yes. Failure to provide health insurance benefits is a violation of Labor Law ob...
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you should be getting a mileage comp. I own my own company and I pay my employee...
Can i sue my employer for breach of Contract?
i would suggest you get professional advice
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I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
I was fired on June 3, 2002 in Massachusetts because I reported discriminatory behavior by the employer towards a particular nationality. In July I filed a discrimination/retaliation complaint against the employer with t
It seem sin your case that the fact you filed the complaint prior to being dissa...
Does failure to provide health insurance benefits at the time promised constitute harm to the employee?
Yes. Failure to provide health insurance benefits is a violation of Labor Law ob...
My job requires me to drive bank deposits up to two times a day using my own vehicle and gas. Although not too far, can should I be receiving compensation? One deposit run is required daily by company policy, but the man
you should be getting a mileage comp. I own my own company and I pay my employee...
Can i sue my employer for breach of Contract?
i would suggest you get professional advice
from what you have put here yo...
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