Federal Sentencing Guidelines | Judge's Survey

Federal Criminal Defense Attorney, Lawyer W.F. ''Casey'' Ebsary, Jr. of Tampa, Florida just received an interesting tip from a friend at the Federal Defender's Office for the Middle District of Florida. It concerns a recent survey by the the United States Sentencing Commission. The Sentencing Commission initiated a survey of United States District Court Judges between January 2010 and March 2010. Our source states "there are some pretty interesting results. For instance, 71% of the respondents thought that the guidelines for the receipt of child pornography (with a minimum mandatory sentence) were too high. 70% of the respondents believed that the crack cocaine guidelines were too high. 70% of the respondents believed that the child pornography (possession) guidelines were too high."

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Sentencing Crack Guidelines - Federal Cases - United States Sentencing Commission

The Supreme Court issued decisions in three important cases: Kimbrough, Gall and Watson. In Kimbrough, the court held that a sentencing court had the authority to reject the 100 to 1 crack ratio in determining a reasonable sentence under the Booker analysis. The case gives great deference to the findings of the United States Sentencing Commission regarding the crack/powder disparity. The Sentencing Commission has recently suggested that a 20 to 1 ratio would be appropriate. As a result, it is important that, if you have any crack sentencing cases coming up in the near future, you may want to continue the sentencing so that you can you can address the crack/powder ratio issue in light of the Court's holding in Kimbrough.

Additionally, a reminder that the Sentencing Commission will be meeting today to discuss the retroactivity of the new crack amendment.