Author Archive | David Patton

Tuesday, June 14th, 2016

How Severe is Too Severe (for Production of Child Porn)?

“Serious nonhomicide crimes may be devastating in their harm[,] but in terms of moral depravity and of the injury to the person and to the public, they cannot be compared to murder in their severity and irreovocability.”  So said the Second Circuit today in United States v. Brown, No. 13-1706-cr (June 14, 2016)  (quoting the Supreme Court decision in Graham v. Flordia, 560 U.S. 48, 69 (2010)), in remanding a 60-year sentence for production of child pornography on procedural grounds that look awfully substantive.  The opinion contains must-use language for advocates at sentencing for a less-than-extreme sentence in any non-homicide case.

The majority opinion (written by J. Pooler with J. Sack signing on) found that the District Court (J. Sharpe, NDNY) may have misunderstood certain facts in imposing a virtual life sentence for photographing and disseminating sexual images of three young girls and possessing thousands of other images of …


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Categories: child pornography, procedural reasonableness, sentencing, substantive reasonableness, Uncategorized

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Tuesday, April 26th, 2016

New RDAP Rules

Below is a message from Denise Barrett from the National Sentencing Resource Counsel Project reporting on new rules relating to the Bureau of Prisons’ Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP).

The BOP changed some of the RDAP rules.  They are published in the federal register and take effect May 26, 2016.

Unfortunately, BOP has retained the provision that prohibits early release for persons convicted of certain crimes (e.g. possession of a firearm).  It did, however, change the rules on prior convictions such that violent offenses older than ten years do not make the person ineligible for early release.

A substantive change was made to the rules governing  expulsions from the RDAP program.  Those who committed acts involving alcohol or drugs, violence or threats of violence, escape or attempted escape, or any 100 level series incident, are no longer subject to expulsion. 

Below is a link to the federal register, which has

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Wednesday, March 16th, 2005

Court finds that Speedy Trial Act Violation May be Harmless, United States v. Zedner, 04-0821-cr (2d Cir. April 28, 2005)

In March 1996, Jacob Zedner walked into several banks and attempted to negotiate bonds issued by “The Ministry of Finance of U.S.A.” from the “Onited States” and with an expiration date of “forevev.” The face value of the bonds was $40 million. Surprisingly, Mr. Zedner was never able to actaully negotiate the bonds. He was, however, able to negotiate some attention from the U.S. government, which found his efforts less than amusing. Indeed, the soundness and security of the United States financial system was preserved when Mr. Zedner was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service.

After 7 years of on-again/off-again institutionalization and conflicting competency evaluations, Mr. Zedner was found fit to stand trial whereupon he was convicted. At sentencing, Judge Platt rejected departure motions based on diminished capacity and overstated loss amount and sentenced him to 63 months in jail.

In a lengthy, fact-intensive opinion, the Court: (1) rejected Mr. …

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Monday, January 31st, 2005

Bank Larceny Not a “Qualifying Federal Offense” Under the Old DNA Act

United States v. Peterson, No. 03-1454 (2d Cir. Jan. 10, 2005):



Summary:



Government bloodsuckers may not force a probationary defendant to submit a DNA sample under the old DNA Act where his original conviction was for bank larceny. At the time Peterson was sentenced, the DNA Act required that all persons convicted of a “qualifying federal offense” were to submit a DNA sample while on supervised release, parole or probation (the Act was subsequently amended on October 30, 2004 making “any felony” a qualifying offense). The district judge dismissed the government’s petition to summon Peterson to a probation violation hearing, finding that bank larceny was not a qualifying federal offense. The appeal raised two issues: (1) whether the government was authorized to appeal a district court’s ruling dismissing a petition for a probation violation hearing; and (2) was bank larceny a qualifying federal offense? The answers were (1) yes …

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