Pubdate: Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Sari Horwitz
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PROSECUTORS FIGHT PLAN TO LOWER DRUG SENTENCES

Longer Prison Terms Have Helped Reduce National Crime Rate, Some Argue

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s broad effort to eliminate 
mandatory minimum prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and 
reduce sentences for defendants in most drug cases is facing 
resistance from some federal prosecutors and district attorneys nationwide.

Opponents of the proposal argue that tough sentencing policies 
provide a critical tool to dismantle drug networks by getting 
cooperation from lower-level defendants and building cases that move 
up the criminal chain of command.

Longer prison terms for more criminals have led to a significant 
decline in the crime rate over the past 20 years, these critics say, 
and they argue that Holder's proposed changes are driven by federal 
budget constraints, not public safety.

"Rewarding convicted felons with lighter sentences because America 
can't balance its budget doesn't seem fair to both victims of crime 
and the millions of families in America victimized every year by the 
scourge of drugs in America's communities," Raymond F. Morrogh, 
commonwealth's attorney in Fairfax County and director at large of 
the National District Attorneys Association, testified Thursday to 
the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Holder on Thursday endorsed an amendment to federal sentencing 
guidelines that would reduce sentences for defendants in most of the 
nation's drug cases. The commission, an independent agency that sets 
sentencing policies for federal judges, is considering the change, 
which it proposed. This followed the attorney general's announcement 
in August that low-level, nonviolent defendants would not 
automatically be charged with federal offenses that carry mandatory 
minimum sentences.

"This straightforward adjustment to sentencing ranges - while 
measured in scope - would nonetheless send a strong message about the 
fairness of our criminal justice system," Holder said of his latest 
effort. "And it would help to rein in federal prison spending while 
focusing limited resources on the most serious threats to public safety."

The prospect of ending mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses 
had drawn fire from the National Association of Assistant U.S. 
Attorneys, which has been lobbying senior lawmakers to try to prevent 
legislation that would change the system.

"We believe our current sentencing laws have kept us safe and should 
be preserved, not weakened," said Robert Gay Guthrie, an assistant 
U.S. attorney in Oklahoma and president of the prosecutors' 
organization. "Don't take away our most effective tool to get 
cooperation from offenders."

The organization that represents line federal prosecutors has written 
letters to Holder, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. 
Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the panel's 
ranking Republican, urging them not to change the sentencing rules. 
Guthrie said that 96 percent of about 500 prosecutors who were 
surveyed in an association poll did not support Holder's plan.

But other assistant U.S. attorneys - as well as several who were 
interviewed - said the new guidelines would reduce prison 
overcrowding and would be more equitable to certain defendants who 
can face severe sentences under the current system.

"It allows us to be more fair in recommending sentences where the 
level of culpability varies among defendants in a large drug 
organization, but where the organization itself is moving large 
quantities of drugs," said John Horn, first assistant U.S. attorney 
in the Northern District of Georgia. "Before the new policy, every 
defendant involved with over five kilos of coke would be subject to a 
minimum 10 or 20 years, whether he was a courier, someone in a stash 
house, a cell head or an organizational leader, and those 
distinctions can be important."

Or, as Neil MacBride, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District 
of Virginia, put it: Former Mexican drug lord "Chapo Guzman and some 
low-level street dealer in Richmond simply don't pose the same 
existential threat to society."

In a recent case in Georgia, Edward Vaughn, 57, was charged in a 
drug-distribution and money laundering case that involved an 
organization trafficking more than 500 grams of heroin as well as 
more than five kilograms of cocaine. Vaughn was implicated in only 
one of the heroin transactions.

Under the old rules, a conviction for trafficking 500 grams or more 
of heroin required a five-year mandatory minimum sentence, but it 
increased to 10 years if the defendant had a prior drug conviction, 
as Vaughn did, Horn said. It was a 2006 conviction for possessing a 
small amount of crack cocaine and Horn said that prosecutors decided 
the case did not warrant the severe additional 10-year mandatory 
minimum sentence for the prior conviction. Instead of 15 years, 
Vaughn's sentence would be 78 to 97 months under the new guidelines.

"The new policy allows us to look at each defendant individually to 
see if it's really justified to seek a mandatory minimum sentence," Horn said.

The Georgia case is exactly the kind that Holder was targeting when 
he announced in August one of the most significant criminal justice 
policy shifts in years, officials said.

Sally Yates, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, 
said any new system will require some period of adjustment.

"This is a sea change for assistant U.S. attorneys," said Yates, who 
was appointed by President Obama after working as an assistant U.S. 
attorney for more than 20 years. "They grew up in a system in which 
they were required to seek the most serious charge, which often 
resulted in the longest sentence. Now, the attorney general is 
saying, 'Look at the circumstances of every case and his or her prior 
criminal history in determining the fair and appropriate charge.' 
That's a lot harder than robotically following a bright line rule."

Timothy J. Heaphy, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of 
Virginia, said prosecutors in his office at first had concerns 
similar to those of the association. "But as time goes on," he said, 
"people are understanding that we're spending less money on prisons 
and it is more fair to tailor our charging discretion."

In the end, a Justice Department official said, assistant U.S. 
attorneys are free to express their opinions internally, but they 
don't make policy. They must follow guidelines, the official added.

Indeed, when Guthrie was asked Thursday about Holder's newest 
proposal, he acknowledged: "We'll follow the direction of the 
attorney general. He's our boss."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom