Supreme Court Copes with Sloppy Drafting in the First Step Act

by · Mar 15, 2024 2:50 pm

In 2018, Congress passed the First Step Act to water down federal sentencing law. I was critical of many provisions of the act at the time, see here, here, and here, though I did agree that some sentences were too harsh and could use a bit of moderation. Mandatory minimums were particularly under assault. I believe they serve a useful function, but some were overboard.

The previous version of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f) had a safety valve allowing judges to let a defendant off from an otherwise mandatory minimum for certain drug crimes if all five of its listed requirements were met. The criminal history requirement was very narrow, and there is no doubt that the 2018 Congress wanted to open the door wider. But how wide? Unfortunately, the drafting of this section was sloppy, and today the Supreme Court disagreed sharply on how to read it. The case is Pulsifer v. United States. Continue reading . . .

Deja Vu All Over Again

by · Mar 13, 2024 2:22 pm

A March 4 article by By Paul Demko, Jeremy White and Jason Befferman published in POLITICO reports that liberal Democrat politicians in some of the nation’s most progressive cities are abandoning the soft-on-crime policies that they vigorously supported a few years ago. Back in 2020, as the George Floyd riots were tearing up these same cities, politicians running New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Baltimore, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles and San Francisco were insisting that sentences for so-called “low level” drug and theft related crimes be reduced, that cash bail be eliminated and that criminals, including violent gang members, be released early to rehabilitation programs. The motivator for these policies was the systemic racism narrative promoted by progressive academics, non-profits like Black Lives Matter, race-baiting politicians and the national media. While this narrative had been pushed since the 1990s, it got major traction after Floyd’s death as deep blue cities reflexively cut police budgets, elected pro-defendant prosecutors and swept away consequences for crime. Then something happened.

Continue reading . . .

Racial Injustice Becomes the Law in California

by · Mar 7, 2024 2:33 pm

In 2020, while most Californians were struggling with Governor Newsom’s pandemic lockdown and George Floyd rioters were tearing up our cities, the Legislature passed and Governor Newsom signed AB 2542 into law. In the Monday, March 4 Wall Street Journal, Manhattan Institute scholar Heather MacDonald wrote, that under the new law (the California Racial Justice Act), “every felon serving time in the state’s prisons and jails can now retroactively challenge his conviction and sentencing on the ground of systemic bias.”

“To prevail, the incarcerated prisoner need not show that the police officers, prosecutors, judge or jurors in his case were motivated by racism or that his proceedings were unfair. If he can demonstrate that in the past, criminal suspects of his race were arrested, prosecuted or sentenced more often or more severely than members of other racial groups, he will be entitled to a new trial or sentence.” Continue reading . . .

Cal. Supreme Ct. Upholds Life-Without-Parole for Young Adult Murderers

by · Mar 5, 2024 4:28 pm

A California law, enacted directly by the people, provides that the crime of first-degree murder with special circumstanhe ces committed by an adult is punishable by death or life in prison with no possibility of parole. Yet Tony Hardin, who committed a vicious murder at age 25, claimed that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that he be considered for parole anyway because others who committed lesser degrees of murder at the same age are eligible for “youth offender parole” under California law. A California Court of Appeal panel actually bought that. The California Supreme Court rejected this claim in a 5-2 decision yesterday, reversing the Court of Appeal. Continue reading . . .

Texas Executes Double Murderer

by · Feb 29, 2024 1:18 pm

A Texas man convicted and sentenced to death for the 2000 robbery and murder of his cousin, James Mosqueda, and the cousin’s fiancee, Amy Kitchen, was executed Wednesday evening. James Powell of USA Today reports that Ivan Cantu continued to claim that he was innocent right up to his death, arguing that his ex-girlfriend gave false testimony at trial implicating him in the killings and that his defense attorney was incompetent.  Kim Kardashian contacted Texas Governor Greg Abbot asking him to postpone the execution for 30 days and 150,000 people signed a petition urging a stay of execution. Based on the overwhelming evidence, it is remarkable that anyone could question Cantu’s guilt.

Continue reading . . .

Virginia AG Opposes Sentence Reduction Bill

by · Feb 28, 2024 1:32 pm

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has announced his opposition to an amendment to the state’s budget bill which gives sentence reductions to criminals, including violent criminals. Hans Bader of Liberty Unyielding reports that in a letter to the Democrat-controled legislature Miyares wrote,

“Cutting sentences for violent crime, especially in cases identified as a high risk for recidivism, is having a detrimental impact on public safety throughout Virginia,” Miyares wrote in the letter. “Aggressive sentence reductions for violent criminals and those with high risk for recidivism disregards past and future victims. Allowing such a practice is not justice, and it’s not safe.”

Continue reading . . .

Creech Execution Update

by · Feb 28, 2024 11:13 am

Update to yesterday’s post.The U.S. Supreme Court denied Thomas Creech’s three petitions without noted dissent. However, at 11 am MST, the Idaho Dept. of Corrections announced:

At approximately 11am, Director Tewalt, after consulting with the medical team leader, determined that the medical team could not establish an IV line, rendering the execution unable to proceed. Mr. Creech will be returned to his cell and witnesses will be escorted out of the facility. As a result, the death warrant will expire at 11:59 p.m.. The State will consider next steps. Director Tewalt and State witnesses, to include the media, will be arriving in the media center shortly for a brief press conference.

Continue reading . . .

Idaho to Execute Serial Killer

by · Feb 27, 2024 3:23 pm

Thomas Creech—who murdered at least six people, was sentenced to death in 1974, and then killed a fellow prison inmate in 1981—is finally facing execution on Wednesday in Idaho, as reported by the Associated Press. Last Friday, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Creech’s claim that he should not be executed because he was sentenced for killing the inmate by a judge rather than a jury. While investigators believe that Creech murdered 11 people, he has only faced trial for six.

Creech’s first victim was 70-year-old retiree Paul Schrader, who he stabbed to death in Tuscon. After killing him, he used his victim’s credit cards and vehicle to flee to Portland, Oregon. He used a mental defense, was acquitted for that murder, and was committed to an Oregon mental hospital. In 1974, on a weekend pass,  Creech traveled to Sacramento and killed Vivian Grant Robinson at her home. The crime went unsolved until Creech confessed while in custody in Idaho. He was convicted of Robinson’s murder in 1980. Continue reading . . .