Monday, December 17, 2007

DBR covers Federal Bar Luncheon

John Pacenti's Justice Watch column today details Chief Judge's Moreno's take on the two big sentencing decisions from last week that he spoke about at the federal bar lunch:

Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno doesn’t expect a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions reinforcing the sentencing discretion of federal judges to create much of a ripple. “There will be a little bit of change,” he told the Federal Bar Association last week. The affable judge kept lawyers in stitches as he addressed the association for the first time as chief judge.
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Moreno told the association that most sentences will fall within the guidelines but he expects the number of sentencing appeals to drop. In an interview afterward, the judge said the guidelines play an important role. “It eliminates disparities between different judges,” he said. “I like the guidelines because that’s what they are — guidelines — they are not mandatory sentences.” But he also welcomes the latest decisions guaranteeing more discretion to district judges. “We know the case and the individual,” he said. “It gives the opportunity for the exception if someone is young or if something is unusual. Sometimes people do fall outside the standards.”

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I would like to hear from some AUSAs thoughts on the fact that Alberto Gonzales was involved in the destruction of evidence that had previously been ordered preserved by at least one federal judge:

Does this mean the members of the defense bar should call into question the representations of main justice AUSAs in Washington (as opposed to local S.D. AUSAs) in terms of due diligence done to secure and produce information?

Does this give any of you AUSAs concern about representations you received during the Gonzales years?