Bush Commutes Libby's Sentence

[GrayMatterWife]

[quote="reciprocity"]I don't see any dicta in Booker to indicate that a disregard for possible mitigating factors is unreasonable. As I read the decision, it merely says that any fact that increases the defendant's punishment above the statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Since the existence of the Grand Jury investigation was proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the cross-reference was proper under the Booker standard as written.
[quote]

I think we may be talking in different directions. Sorry. I should have been clearer. I am not challenging the reasonable doubt requirement. I am referring to the second half of Booker (and FanFan), which requires that a sentence be reasonable, and reasonableness is determined by proper consideration of the 3553 factors (including mitigating factors). I lived and breathed Booker (UGHHH!) in 2005-06 (FUN! Booker was published at the end of Jan. 2005. resulting in a year of complete chaos), when I was clerking for the Circuit Court of Appeals. People challenge sentences under Booker all the time for the trial court's failure to properly consider mitigating factors, arguing that the result in an unreasonable sentence. Granted, it is rarely a winning argument, but most of the time, the lower court has amply considered all the 3553 factors.

[reciprocity]

I guess I'm just not clear on what you're basing that on, absent a sentencing order or transcript.

With the facts in front of me, which include the Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual, the sentence seems pretty reasonable.

[GrayMatterWife]

I guess I'm just not clear on what you're basing that on, absent a sentencing order or transcript.

With the facts in front of me, which include the Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual, the sentence seems pretty reasonable.

I'm basing my argument in favor of a confinement sentence as unreasonable on the facts that I know regarding the case, the defendant, and what the USP's recommendation had been. In the end, it doesn't matter much to my argument what the actual, calculated USSG confinement range is (topping out at 21 versus 37). As Booker states, the USSG range is a starting point in determining reasonableness.

But, in the end...whether it was reasonable is a moot issue, I think...how can he possibly appeal a sentence he won't serve? I don't see that...

[reciprocity]

Oh, yeah, I forgot that President Bush intervened before Libby's legal team had exhausted all of its avenues of appeal! Which was something he explicitly said he wasn't going to do!

[DCJenn]

Man, I want both of you on my defense team.

and Kelly, because she'll hug me and caress my hair and whisper, "there...there" in between her lawyering duties.

Jenn

[reciprocity]

I gave up criminal defense when I graduated!

I'm all civil, all plaintiff, all the time now!

[GrayMatterWife]

I gave up criminal defense when I graduated!

I'm all civil, all plaintiff, all the time now!

Me, too. I "practiced" crim law only in theory--as a clerk. My crim experience is good only for law review articles. Nothing practical. My practice was all corporate insolvency law! No juries in Bankruptcy Court!

Plus, our clients PAID. Each time, every time.

[GrayMatterWife]

I gave up criminal defense when I graduated!

I'm all civil, all plaintiff, all the time now!

Hey, I saw you're a SO to an MD-PhD. My DH was an MD-PhD. In the NINE years it took him to get his degrees, I: taught school, went to law school, did a clerkship, put in my time in Firm Life, and paid off my law school debt. He got two pieces of paper he has yet to get framed.

We have a good sense of humor about perpetual studentdom...

[reciprocity]

I gave up criminal defense when I graduated!

I'm all civil, all plaintiff, all the time now!

Me, too. I "practiced" crim law only in theory--as a clerk. My crim experience is good only for law review articles. Nothing practical. My practice was all corporate insolvency law! No juries in Bankruptcy Court!

Plus, our clients PAID. Each time, every time.

I did a bunch of pro bono capital punishment stuff in law school, but now I do patent litigation.

you paid off your debt since 2005! I'm so jealous, I still have soooooo much left to pay off...

[GrayMatterWife]

I gave up criminal defense when I graduated!

I'm all civil, all plaintiff, all the time now!

Me, too. I "practiced" crim law only in theory--as a clerk. My crim experience is good only for law review articles. Nothing practical. My practice was all corporate insolvency law! No juries in Bankruptcy Court!

Plus, our clients PAID. Each time, every time.

I did a bunch of pro bono capital punishment stuff in law school, but now I do patent litigation.

you paid off your debt since 2005! I'm so jealous, I still have soooooo much left to pay off...

I'm a 2000 grad. The debt's been paid off since August 27. 2002 (big day for me...can you tell?). At the time, we were really lucky and had free rent--so that was a huge help. The place was not ideal, but hey...free. I poured every dime I earned into the debt. We lived off my DH's stipend and ate cereal and milk for two years. I don't think my intestines will ever fully recover. My DH joked that I was the only attorney he knew whose standard of living went down after law school...

Basically, I knew we wanted to have kids and I knew that I could not work the Big Firm grind forever and have a family, so I figured paying off the debt would help open up some options for me. Not like I could wait around for my DH to get a real job!

[PrincessFiona]

I'm lovin' this lawyer talk...it sounds so.....knowledgeable

kris

[DCJenn]

No kidding- the numbers of syllables per sentence just increased exponentially.

More proof that at the minimum, dawkters have excellent taste in spouses.

Jenn

I like having one lawyer on each side of the arguement. I can read it and say "YEAH - what he (in this case) said!" and feel like I know what I'm talking about.

[reciprocity]

I'm a 2000 grad. The debt's been paid off since August 27. 2002 (big day for me...can you tell?). At the time, we were really lucky and had free rent--so that was a huge help. The place was not ideal, but hey...free. I poured every dime I earned into the debt. We lived off my DH's stipend and ate cereal and milk for two years. I don't think my intestines will ever fully recover. My DH joked that I was the only attorney he knew whose standard of living went down after law school...

Basically, I knew we wanted to have kids and I knew that I could not work the Big Firm grind forever and have a family, so I figured paying off the debt would help open up some options for me. Not like I could wait around for my DH to get a real job!

Yeah, I think even living hand-to-mouth there's no way I could polish my debt off in less than five years (the school I graduated from has the highest average debt per student of any law school in the country, and I ended up with more than three times as much debt as the average graduate of said school).

So I anticipate sticking around tight up until they give me an offer for partnership, then say "no thanks, I'm leaving!"

[reciprocity]

oh, wait, so you started your clerkship after working in a firm for a few years?

I've given some thought to that, especially since I do a ton of patent lit and so many judges need patent insight. How did that work for you?