Due Process – Sentencing

Listen to this article

7^TH Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. James A. Thomas

Case No.: 15-1731

Officials: EASTERBROOK, ROVNER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Due Process – Sentencing

Judge utilized proper procedure in calculating sentence for appellant.

“The Due Process Clause requires notice and an opportunity for a hearing. See, e.g., Jones v. Flowers, 547 U.S. 220 (2006). The procedure the district judge used gave Thomas more notice than Rule 32 requires, and more opportunities to be heard than Rules 32 and 43 require. It eliminated any dispute about the terms of supervised release, which have bedeviled district courts (and this court) in recent years. See, e.g., United States v. Orozco-Sanchez, No. 15-1252 (7th Cir. Feb. 26, 2016); United States v. Kappes, 782 F.3d 828 (7th Cir. 2015). The early announcement of an inclination to deduct two offense levels allowed everyone to prepare for a focused argument on just where in the 235- to 293-month range the sentence should fall, without extinguishing the prosecutor’s opportunity to argue for a sentence higher than 293 months or the defense’s opportunity to ask for fewer than 235 months. Both sides used that opportunity. The procedure made everyone better off. Philosophers and economists might call it a Pareto-superior, if not a Pareto-optimal, approach to sentencing. Other district judges may deem it worthy of emulation; it is enough for us to call it constitutional.”

Affirmed

Full Text

Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.