An Inaugural Scrooge

A post by Paul Horwitz over at Prawfs on the iinaugural spectacle prompts me to confront my own reaction which is, for the most part, one of bemusement. It all strikes me as too much by half.

Of course, the election of an African-American president is a significant event. I was not one of those who doubted that the U.S. would elect a black president. Contemporary racial bias seems to express itself in presumptions about people that we don’t know. In a nation that has — for reasons that are lost on me — made Oprah its most admired person, the election of an African-American is not all that surprising.

But that doesn’t make it any less momentous. As others have noted, Obama could not have been served lunch at many restaurants in North Carolina during the year he was born. Last fall, a majority of the state’s electorate voted for him for President.

Continue ReadingAn Inaugural Scrooge

Seventh Circuit Week in Review, Part II: Piling on the Mandatory Minimums

In addition to the two cases covered in my prior post, the Seventh Circuit had four new sentencing opinions last week.  Only one warrants any extended discussion.  And that case, United States v. Easter (Nos. 07-2433, 2435, 3118, 3203, 3540 & 3628), actually presented several different issues raised by multiple defendants.

In Easter, several codefendants appealed their sentences for various drug trafficking convictions.  One, McKay, challenged the application of a mandatory minimum sentence to him based on the quantity of drugs involved in his offense.  The ten-year minimum was applied to McKay because he and his coconspirators were responsible for at least 50 grams of crack or one kilogram of heroin (the actual basis was unclear).  McKay’s appeal centered on the fact that, for purposes of calculating his sentence under the federal sentencing guidelines, the district court found him responsible for only 960 grams of heroin and 45-75 grams of crack.  However, the Seventh Circuit (in a per curiam decision) noted that the guidelines do not hold defendants responsible for as much of the conduct of their coconspirators as do the mandatory minimum statutes.  (For an earlier post on this topic, see here.)  Considering the full set of drug sales foreseeably perpetrated by McKay’s coconspirators, the district court could permissibly reach the quantity thresholds for the ten-year prison sentence.

Continue ReadingSeventh Circuit Week in Review, Part II: Piling on the Mandatory Minimums

Seventh Circuit Week in Review, Part I: PPGs and Halfway Houses

The Seventh Circuit had six new opinions in criminal cases this week, all dealing with sentencing issues.  Two focused on supervised release questions, which will be the subject of this post; the remaining four with be covered in another post.

First, in United States v. Rhodes (No. 07-3953), a sex offender challenged penile plethysmograph (“PPG”) testing as a condition of supervised release.  PPG testing involves attaching a monitor to the male subject’s genitals, presenting him with an array of sexually stimulating images, and then determing the degree of arousal by measuring erectile responses.  When used with sex offenders, the hope is that arousal patterns can be studied to determine how great the risk is that an offender will commit new sex crimes.  Although experts disagree as the effectiveness of PPG testing, it has become a routine part of adult sex offender treatment programs. 

Continue ReadingSeventh Circuit Week in Review, Part I: PPGs and Halfway Houses
Newer Posts
Older Posts