tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9615048.post5820101307387300461..comments2024-03-28T14:19:33.056-04:00Comments on Southern District of Florida Blog: Is sentencing out of whack?David Oscar Markushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386723948607633980noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9615048.post-59595117646485994172013-06-11T14:32:15.162-04:002013-06-11T14:32:15.162-04:00Your posts on sentencing have always been fascinat...Your posts on sentencing have always been fascinating reads for me. Please keep up the good work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9615048.post-34177147159674833922013-06-11T07:05:38.033-04:002013-06-11T07:05:38.033-04:00I once and thankfully successfully, represented on...I once and thankfully successfully, represented on appeal a young man (age 28) who, through horrible lawyering, (Yale Galenter) pled open in state court before now (thankfully) former Judge Adrian, to a drug case with a 7 year minimum mandatory. Adrian, wonderful human being that he is, gave this 28 year old father of two with one juvenile burglary prior 30 years! It was a simple buy bust, with no violence, firearms, unusual circumstances, etc. <br /><br />The lesson is that we need to pick our judges very very carefully. It is not the big publicity case that we need worry about, but the day to day actions of someone who can arbitrarily wreck the lives of people and mostly get away with it. <br /><br />We also need to recognize the flawed philosophy behind minimum mandatories which is this- the legislature has decided to invest more trust and power in a prosecutor (in state court that can mean someone 25 years of age) than a judge (hopefully someone with decades of life and legal experience) because only a prosecutor can waive a minimum mandatory. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com