Judges deny some crack convicts legal help on sentences

[babylonsister]

Judges deny some crack convicts legal help on sentences
By Marisa Taylor | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Sunday, April 20, 2008



WASHINGTON — As federal courts begin the unprecedented task of deciding whether thousands of prisoners should receive lower sentences for crimes involving crack cocaine, some judges are telling poor convicts that they won't get lawyers to help them argue for leniency.

As a result, some prisoners are being left to argue on their own behalf against skilled prosecutors in cases that have already been labeled unjust.

Defense advocates have argued for more than 20 years that the more severe sentences given for crack cocaine offenses, compared to those handed down for crimes involving powder cocaine, were unfair to African-American defendants. A majority of crack cocaine defendants are African-American, while most powder cocaine defendants are white.

Last year, the U.S. Sentencing Commission recognized the disparity and recommended lighter penalties in crack cocaine cases.

Now the 20,000 prisoners who're eligible for the lower sentences must ask a court to reconsider their cases. Many have said they're too poor to hire lawyers to ask for the lower sentences, and judges have appointed federal defenders to represent them at taxpayers' expense.

But other judges have declined to appoint attorneys, saying they aren't needed for what should be a straightforward sentencing matter nor are they required under the Constitution. Judges have the sole authority to appoint such attorneys.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/34152.html

[flashl]

1. American 'pocketbook' justice. nt

[High Plains]

2. What assholes on the federal bench!

"Hey prisoner, you can apply for a sentence reduction and a skilled federal prosecutor will oppose your motion. But even though it is complicated legal pleadings and you're most likely pretty uneducated, I'm not going to provide a lawyer for you. You'll have to pay for your own attorney. Oh, you've been in prison for 15 years and don't have any money? Tough shit. You can have all the justice you can buy. That's the American way, after all."

[babylonsister]

3. Unreal. Why even bother with the reduced sentences? nt

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.