Latest news with #U.S.SentencingCommission
Time Business News
15-05-2025
- Time Business News
Nevada Among 10 U.S. States Imposing the Longest Prison Sentences for Sexual Abuse Felons, Study Finds
A new study reveals that Nevada imposes the ninth longest prison sentences for sexual abuse felonies in the United States. The research by personal injury law firm Simmrin Law analyzed federal sentencing data for sexual abuse cases across all 50 states via the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 2024 Federal Sentencing Statistics. The average length of sentence per sexual abuse incident was calculated for each state to identify which jurisdictions hand down the most severe punishments. Nevada takes the ninth position with an average sentence length of 23.25 months per sexual abuse incident — 44% increase over the national average of 16.09 months. Across 4 recorded cases, the state issued a total of 93 months of sentencing in 2024. Looking at the study, a spokesperson at Simmrin Law commented: 'The study highlights that Nevada imposes the ninth harshest penalties for sexual abuse convictions compared to the rest of the nation. 'These substantial sentencing disparities raise important questions about consistency in our criminal justice system. While serious sexual offenses certainly warrant appropriate consequences, such wide variations in sentencing from state to state may indicate systemic inequities. 'State legislators and judicial authorities might consider reviewing these sentencing patterns to ensure that punishment aligns with the severity of crimes and promotes both justice and rehabilitation.' Table for Expanded Results : Top 10 U.S. States With Longest Sentence for Sexual Abuse State Length of Sentence for Sexual Abuse Convictions(Mean Months 2024 Number of Sexual Abuse Cases 2024 Length of Sentence for Sexual Abuse Convictions per incident Rank New Hampshire 260 3 86.67 1 Connecticut 240 3 80.00 2 Rhode Island 176 3 58.67 3 Colorado 192 4 48.00 4 Hawaii 168 4 42.00 5 Vermont 124 4 31.00 6 New Jersey 215 8 26.88 7 Alaska 240 9 26.67 8 Nevada 93 4 23.25 9 North Dakota 290 13 22.31 10 The study was conducted by Simmrin Law, an experienced criminal defense firm dedicated to protecting clients' rights and ensuring fair treatment within the justice system. ENDS P.S. If using this story, please credit and link to Methodology The research analyzed federal sentencing data for sexual abuse cases across all 50 states via the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 2024 Federal Sentencing Statistics. The average length of sentence for sexual abuse was calculated for each state to identify which jurisdictions hand down the most severe punishments. Data Sources TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Reuters
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
US Sentencing Commission's expansion of compassionate release was invalid 'power grab,' court rules
A gavel sits on the chairman's dais in the U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 14, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab April 23 (Reuters) - A divided federal appeals court ruled that a policy adopted in 2023 by the U.S. Sentencing Commission which allowed judges to deem changes in law as "extraordinary and compelling" reasons justifying granting inmates early release from prison, is invalid and amounts to a "heavy-handed and unseemly power grab." A 2-1 panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected bids, opens new tab by three inmates serving lengthy prison sentences to be released early based on the commission's new policy, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in June curbing agencies' regulatory power. Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here. That decision by the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority scrapped a 40-year-old legal doctrine known as "Chevron deference" that had required courts to defer to federal agencies' interpretations of the laws they administer when those statutes are ambiguous. U.S. Circuit Judge Alice Batchelder said under that decision, courts no longer need to defer to policy statements from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, a judicial-branch agency charged with crafting sentencing guidelines, just because a statute is ambiguous. She said the commission's policy statement contradicted the text of the statute governing compassionate release and the 6th Circuit's earlier 2022 interpretation of it holding that a non-retroactive change in the law is not an "extraordinary and compelling reason' for a sentence reduction. "We conclude that the Commission overstepped its authority and issued a policy statement that is plainly unreasonable under the statute and in conflict with the separation of powers," Batchelder wrote. As a result, the court rejected arguments by inmates Jason Bricker, Ellis McHenry and Lois Orta that they were deserving of a compassionate release under the commission's policy as they were all serving sentences that were much longer than what they would have received today for the same offense. Bricker, for example, was serving a 24-1/2 year sentence for a 2005 armed bank robbery, but if re-sentenced today would face a sentencing guidelines range of 70 to 87 months. Tuesday's decision reversed a judge's decision to reduce his sentence. Batchelder's opinion was joined by U.S. Circuit Judge Chad Readler, a fellow appointee of a Republican president. U.S. Circuit Judge Jane Stranch, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, dissented, saying the majority misconstrued the end of Chevron deference to reach its conclusion. A spokesperson for the Sentencing Commission declined to comment. Lawyers for the inmates did not respond to requests for comment. Two of the inmates had sought early release based on changes in law contained in the First Step Act, a bipartisan measure that Republican President Donald Trump signed into law in his first term in 2018 that reformed stricter sentencing laws. The U.S. Sentencing Commission lost its quorum shortly after the law's enactment, preventing it for three years from updating sentencing guidelines to implement the law, including provisions to provide greater opportunities for inmates to seek compassionate release. In the absence of any guidance from the panel, courts were left to decide for themselves what circumstances qualified as "extraordinary and compelling" that would warrant granting prisoners' requests for compassionate release, often leading to splits in the courts about how to interpret the law. The Sentencing Commission finally, under Democratic former President Joe Biden, regained a quorum and on a 4-3 vote in April 2023 approved a policy statement which said that changes in law could be considered "extraordinary and compelling" if a defendant serving at least 10 years had received an "unusually long sentence. The case is U.S. v. Bricker, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 24-3286. For the United States: Andrew Noll of the U.S. Department of Justice For Bricker: David O'Neil of Debevoise & Plimpton For McHenry: Christian Grostic of the Office of the Federal Defender, Southern District of Ohio For Orta: Alex Trieger of Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick Read more: US appeals court rejects sentencing panel's compassionate release policy US Supreme Court curbs federal agency powers, overturning 1984 precedent U.S. panel votes to expand compassionate release for prisoners U.S. Justice Department tells panel changes in law don't warrant cutting sentences Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Nate Raymond Thomson Reuters Nate Raymond reports on the federal judiciary and litigation. He can be reached at
Washington Post
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Ed Martin's new federal gun charge plan has 18 cases. All are Black men.
Police arrested one man after officers alleged they saw a gun fall out of his pocket as he walked away from a liquor store. They charged another who was smoking a blunt and ran away when police approached him in Southeast D.C. He, too, was carrying a gun, authorities said. Three more were taken into custody after officers stopped their vehicle in the 1500 block of Seventh Street NW, searched it and found three firearms along with red Solo cups and an open bottle of tequila. The five men, who were convicted felons before their most recent encounters with law enforcement, face federal firearms charges, swept up in interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin's 'Make D.C. Safe Again' initiative pledging to get guns off the city's streets. Martin boasted recently on social media and in a community meeting that his office had charged 18 felons with federal gun possession crimes in the month since he announced his plans, more than double the number charged in the same month a year ago. All 18 are Black men, The Washington Post confirmed through court records and charging documents, fueling criticism by some District residents and defense attorneys that Martin's plans are putting the city back on a path of targeting racial minorities even as D.C. is experiencing a sharp decline in violent crime. D.C.'s federal court sentenced an average of four people a month for firearms charges in the nine years ending with 2023, the latest data available from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Of those, 93 percent were Black. None of the 18 — whose arrests occurred across the city — were charged with violent crimes alongside the recent gun charges. A similar initiative launched in 2020 was revealed to have targeted Black neighborhoods. At a recent community meeting where Martin pitched his plan to more than 200 people in Southeast Washington, he was met with jeers and sharp questions. The plan focuses on felons, who aren't allowed to carry guns in the city. Martin says there's a link between violent crime and illegal gun possession, so he's ordering prosecutors to make every felony gun possession case a federal one. Moving the cases from superior court to federal court brings the prospect of longer prison sentences, which Martin says will keep criminals off the streets. The shift to federal court would also prevent people 24 and younger from qualifying for the District's Youth Rehabilitation Act, which results in a lighter sentence and potentially having the case sealed after they're released. 'Our kids in this city deserve to be safe. Our neighborhoods and families deserve to be safe and our laws deserve to be prosecuted. We needed to do better at that,' Martin told the audience. Reducing crime is a goal everyone shares, said Ron Moten, longtime Ward 8 community activist and founder of the Go-Go Museum, but not in a way that targets only one group of people. Moten recalled the war on drugs that resulted in mass incarceration of Black men in the 1980s and '90s, including him. 'Will your gun crackdown turn into the same thing in our community? Will this war on guns result in locking up countless Black men, women and children for nonviolent crimes? Mass incarceration destroyed our community,' Moten said as other audience members shouted 'amen.' Martin did not respond to their concerns. Attorney Heather Shaner has defended clients in the District since 1979. She said some people in D.C. carry guns for protection because they live in violent neighborhoods, or because they have been shot before. 'But the guns don't protect them. They just get them locked up,' Shaner said. Shaner said the aggressive arrest and prosecution policy can result in unlawful arrests. 'I'm just so sick of seeing these young men being stopped and a gun is found in the car with each of these kids and yet the cops had no reason to go into the car,' she says. 'Or an officer thinks he sees a bulge and stops and frisk them and finds a gun. They're driving while Black or walking while Black.' Lamont Mitchell, chairman of the Anacostia Coordinating Council, which hosted the meeting in Anacostia, the city's largest and predominantly African American neighborhood, urged Martin to focus on how the guns were being brought into the city and focus on the suppliers, as opposed to individuals possessing guns. 'We have a plethora of gun violence in this city and in our community, yes,' Mitchell said. 'But what are you planning to do to intervene with these gun shipments?' Martin said his office was working with other federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to identify firearms being transported from southern Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia into Washington. 'That is a priority. We now have new leadership in these agencies and they can help us go up the chain and try to cut the supply.' Martin's office has not announced any arrests or charges against alleged suppliers. Attorneys say another reason Martin moved gun possession to federal court was to keep defendants locked up while they await trial. In federal court, prosecutors can request an emergency hearing with Chief Judge James E. Boasberg if another judge orders a defendant released from custody. Boasberg has been the subject of Trump's ire since he temporarily blocked the administration, in a separate case, from deporting Venezuelan migrants without due process under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. After that ruling, Trump railed against Boasberg on social media, calling him a 'Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator' who should be impeached. And late last month Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to preserve the records of a Signal group chat about sensitive military operations in Yemen. On Tuesday, Martin's federal prosecutors and attorneys for Monte Tyree Johnson sparred in Boasberg's second-floor courtroom over whether Johnson could be released pending trial on weapons offenses. Johnson, 29, who was convicted in 2021 of voluntary manslaughter in the 2016 shooting of a transgender woman during a robbery, was taken into custody March 18. Authorities said they went to pick him up on an alleged probation violation and found a Glock 27 and 22 rounds of ammunition in his backpack. Soon after, Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Sharbaugh ordered him released from jail, and Martin's office sought Boasberg's intervention. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Wynn argued Johnson was a danger to the community and should remain in jail until trial. 'He has a propensity to use firearms,' Wynn told Boasberg, reminding him of his conviction in the killing of Deeniquia 'Dee Dee' Dodds. Boasberg — a former federal prosecutor — agreed and ordered Johnson to remain in D.C. jail until trial. 'I don't find any restrictions that could guarantee the safety of the community,' he said. Martin's critics question his decisions to shake up his office in a way that could make carrying out his gun initiative more difficult. At the meeting last month in Southeast Washington, Martin — a longtime defense attorney who never worked as a prosecutor — told the audience he 'needed more prosecutors' in his office, the nation's largest U.S. attorney's office, to focus on violent crime in the city. D.C. Shadow Sen. Ankit Jain (D) reminded Martin that in February, he oversaw the demotion of seven senior prosecutors who worked on the Jan. 6 Capitol seditious conspiracy and riot cases. Jain said Martin's actions 'created chaos' in the U.S. attorney's office and asked how the moves would help him in prosecuting violent criminals in the city. The top criminal prosecutor in Martin's office resigned in February after refusing an order from Martin she said wasn't backed up by evidence. And Martin reassigned senior prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases to misdemeanors or early case assessment screening in D.C. Superior Court, positions often held by early career federal prosecutors. The reassignments, Martin said, were the 'best use of our resources' and added 'we had focuses in our office that I think were misplaced.' But he didn't explain how the moves would help him with his goal of charging more gun possession cases. On March 19, Rickey Corey Watkins, Jr. was arrested after police say he was driving an all-terrain Suzuki around 8:30 p.m. inside the gated area of the Harrison Recreation Center in the 1300 block of V Street in Northwest Washington. Police say when they tried to pull Watkins over, he tossed what they said was a Glock 19X pistol and loading magazine. Watkins, 33, had been convicted in 2013 of assault with intent to kill while armed. Watkins's attorney, Eugene Ohm of the Federal Public Defender Service, declined to comment on his client's case. But he said in recent weeks that he has seen an increase in similar cases in which he believed prosecutors used an initial stop for a minor offense to charge a more serious crime, such as felon in possession of a firearm. 'There are many aggressive police tactics that they know cross the line. They are hoping the judges in federal court will let them get away with things that D.C. Courts have already found unconstitutional,' Ohm said. Thompkins and Watkins were among the recent federal gun charge cases touted by Martin's office. Tom Lynch, a D.C. police spokesman, said officers 'will continue our efforts of removing illegal firearms from our communities and leave the decision on how to prosecute each case to the prosecutors.'
Reuters
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
US Supreme Court Justice Jackson calls for revisiting sentencing guidelines
MIAMI, March 6 - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said on Thursday she would support revisiting sentencing guidelines for white collar crime because the current framework leads to uneven punishments. The amount of money involved has more sway than the level of culpability, Jackson noted at an American Bar Association conference in Miami. "Fairness requires that similarly situated defendants be treated similarly." "I'd like to see the guidelines revisited as a whole," she said to applause from the audience largely composed of white collar criminal defense lawyers. Jackson, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden, previously served on the independent U.S. Sentencing Commission, which develops guidelines for judges to consider as they impose sentences. During her time on the commission, she said the recommended sentences in white collar cases "ratcheted way, way up" because of the rising amount of money involved in fraud schemes. Judges are not required to impose a sentence within the guidelines. Some violent crimes and drug offenses carry mandatory minimum sentences, while white collar crimes do not, Jackson said. Jackson was interviewed at the conference by former San Francisco U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey, her onetime classmate at Harvard Law School. Asked about the court's 6-3 decision last year finding broad immunity from criminal prosecutions for presidents, in a challenge brought by President Donald Trump, Jackson pointed to her written dissent arguing the decision was introducing inequality in the criminal justice system. Regarding social relationships on the court, Jackson said she was closest in age and life circumstances with Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, and the two frequently talk about being working mothers. Jackson, a musical theater aficionado, said Barrett threw her a party based on the Broadway play "Hamilton" after she joined the nation's highest court.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Morrisey's State of the State didn't touch on some of West Virginia's biggest problems
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey gave his State of the State address on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, outlining his priorities for the legislative session. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography) West Virginia, I love you so much, but why do you continue to vote for people who won't do anything to help you? You can't keep voting for the people who say 'Trump' and 'Jesus' the most and claim they know better than experts, then expect West Virginia to take a rocket ship ride to the top. There are thousands of children in foster care, and we have a shortage of Child Protective Service workers. In 2023, there were 5,286 child abuse and neglect cases filed in circuit courts in West Virginia alone. Gov. Patrick Morrisey didn't mention anything about that in his State of the State address. However, he did spend a good portion of his speech talking again about how he's going to 'eradicate the woke virus from infecting our schools.' Morrisey also briefly touched on the state's opioid epidemic, but he placed most of the blame on the 'open southern border and lax immigration enforcement.' He was correct in saying that more than 80% of overdose deaths in West Virginia were from fentanyl, however, most of it is not coming from immigrants. More than 85% of people charged with fentanyl trafficking annually are U.S. citizens, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Nearly 82% of all convicted drug traffickers in 2023 were U.S. residents. More than 90% of the fentanyl that is seized at the Mexican border comes through legal points of entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. Experts say evidence-based harm reduction strategies can minimize overdoses and diseases contracted through sharing needles. And yet, lawmakers have made it almost impossible for anyone to start a syringe services program in West Virginia, and last year banned those programs from distributing safe smoking supplies. In the first few days of session, there have already been more bills introduced to make syringe exchange programs and all opioid treatment programs unlawful. Morrisey didn't mention anything about school discipline — another huge problem — but he did mention President Donald Trump eight times during his speech. And on Friday, 13 lawmakers introduced House Concurrent Resolution 33 to rename Spruce Knob, the tallest point in the state, as 'Trump Mountain.' It's very much giving, 'The leader is good, the leader is great, we surrender our will, as of this date.' Thousands of West Virginians are without clean water, but Morrisey didn't mention anything about it or utility infrastructure. But he did spend a chunk of his speech focusing on erasing transgender people somehow without using the word transgender. He bragged about joining Trump in the White House while he signed an executive order that banned transgender women from competing in women's sports. In West Virginia, only one transegender girl has wanted to compete in women's sports. 'As your governor, my duty is to protect and defend the citizens of West Virginia,' Morrisey said. Unless you're transgender. Or in active addiction. Or an immigrant. Or disabled. Or a minority — remember, Morrisey immediately banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs with an executive order on his second day in office? How are we supposed to convince businesses to relocate themselves and their employees here if we can't provide them with the most basic human right: clean, running drinking water? We're only a few days into this session, there's still time to focus on actual problems. Unfortunately, lawmakers don't care what West Virginians have to say. They made that clear when they voted to end public hearings on day 1. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
