For Immediate Release
Date: February 19, 2007
Will tomorrow's Supreme Court arguments hurt or help defendants?
Rita, Claiborne to dramatically impact federal guidelines system
WASHINGTON D.C.: On Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court will address one of the most contentious issues arising from the Court’s historic decision in U.S. v. Booker: whether a sentence within the guidelines is presumptively reasonable. Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates for prisoners and families whose lives have been shattered by harsh mandatory sentencing laws, does not support the government’s view that a guideline sentence should be presumed reasonable.
The Court will consider this issue in two cases. In Claiborne v. U.S., No. 06-5618, a low-level crack defendant's below-guideline sentence was reversed by the appeals court as “unreasonable,” and in Rita v. U.S., No. 06-5754, a within-guideline sentence was affirmed by the appeals court for a defendant who made misstatements at trial.
FAMM opposes giving the guidelines so much weight, believing that the Supreme Court's decision in Booker has rightly told the lower courts to consider the guidelines but also consider factors in the sentencing statute to craft sentences that are “sufficient, but not greater than necessary” to punish and deter crime, protect the public and rehabilitate the defendant.
Said Mary Price, FAMM general counsel, "The cases are very important to defendants and will set the course of federal sentencing. Judges should have the authority to look at the facts of each case and fit the punishment to the individual. If the Supreme Court decides the guidelines are presumptively reasonable, the advisory guidelines will be advisory in name only. Instead they will function much like the mandatory guidelines the Court deemed unconstitutional in Booker."
FAMM submitted an amicus curiae brief in the cases prepared by Gregory Poe of Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck and Untereiner, Brian Willen of Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw and Peter Goldberger. The brief and over a dozen case profiles of people unjustly sentenced under federal mandatory sentencing laws is available on FAMM's website at www.famm.org.
Mary Price is available on Monday, February 19 and Tuesday, February 20 to talk about the impact these cases have on prisoners. Call Monica Pratt Raffanel at (678) 261-8118 to arrange an interview.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) is a national non-partisan, nonprofit organization that promotes just sentencing policies. For more information, visit: www.famm.org or call Monica Pratt Raffanel at 678-261-8118.
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