Judges grapple with backlog, confusion after (manditory) sentencing ruling

[truthpusher]

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/breaking_news/10749863.htm

Posted on Thu, Jan. 27, 2005

Judges grapple with backlog, confusion after sentencing ruling

HOPE YEN

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Thousands of criminals are filing for reduced sentences. Backlogged courts are asking lawyers to slow down their appeals. Judges say they're confused about what to do.

Two weeks after the Supreme Court threw out mandatory sentencing guidelines, federal courts are just beginning to grapple with the consequences. And judges say it may take months, if not years, to sort through thousands of appeals and piece together a new sentencing system.

"It's a much more stressful exercise now," said U.S. District Judge Harold Baer of New York, who sentences dozens of white-collar criminals and drug offenders each month. "We're all desperately trying to follow the Supreme Court decision. But what does that mean?"

(snip)

In the Jan. 12 ruling, the Supreme Court said making the guidelines mandatory violated a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial because they call for judges to make factual decisions that affect prison time, such as the amount of drugs involved in a crime.

Under the ruling, the guidelines now are only advisory; as a result, federal judges are free to sentence convicted criminals as they see fit, but they may be subject to reversal if appeals courts find them "unreasonable."

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