Background Justice Sotomayor, writing for the majority in Hemphill v. New York, opened with In 2006, a stray 9-millimeter bullet killed a 2-year-old child in the Bronx. The State charged Nicholas Morris with the murder, but after trial commenced, it offered him a plea...
federal sentencing
Quarterly Update: How California and the Federal Government Have Addressed Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Gun Violence
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a new presidential administration, and shifting attitudes towards law enforcement have reshaped the way the legal system approaches mass incarceration, the War on Drugs, and gun violence. Both California and the federal government...
COVID-19, Compassionate Release, and the CARES Act: Prison Release in the Pandemic
At first glance, Death Row Records co-founder Michael Harris, notorious “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, and Ponzi scheme king Bernie Madoff may not seem to have much in common. However, all three men recently sought to reduce their lengthy federal prison sentences...
When do prior convictions become final for federal sentencing purposes?
On June 22, 2012, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in United States v. Suarez that upon successfully completing California’s deferred entry of judgment program, that conviction cannot be subsequently used in a later federal sentencing for a California drug...