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Recent Cases Showcase New Judicial Leeway

Black, Vick decisions illustrate turn from sentencing guidelines

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 11, 2007 4:19 PM CST
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(Newser) – More federal judges are giving themselves wiggle room when it comes to once-strict sentencing guidelines, as evidenced by three recent high-profile court cases. The three—involving Conrad Black, Michael Vick, and a crack cocaine case that made it to the Supreme Court—illustrate how a spate of high-court rulings have given judges more leeway, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The trend is expected to decrease the average sentence; courts have shown themselves 10 times more likely to lighten than to lengthen sentences when departing from the guidelines. "Will we see a very severe federal system going soft?" asked one expert. "I don't think so. It's a loosening, but not all reins coming off."

Media reporters and demonstrators, right, from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), gather outside the U.S. courthouse in downtown Richmond, Va., Monday, Aug. 20, 2007. Michael Vick's lawyer said Monday the NFL star will plead guilty to federal dogfighting conspiracy charges, putting the Atlanta Falcons quarterback's career...
Media reporters and demonstrators, right, from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), gather outside the U.S. courthouse in downtown Richmond, Va., Monday, Aug. 20, 2007. Michael Vick's lawyer...   (Associated Press)
Convicted newspaper baron Conrad Black addresses U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve in this courtroom drawing at the federal building in Chicago Monday, Dec. 10, 2007, during sentencing in his racketeering and fraud trial. Black, convicted July 13 of swindling the Hollinger International newspaper empire he once ran out...
Convicted newspaper baron Conrad Black addresses U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve in this courtroom drawing at the federal building in Chicago Monday, Dec. 10, 2007, during sentencing in his racketeering...   (Associated Press)
Conrad Black, former head of the Hollinger International Inc. newspaper empire, leaves federal court Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007 in Chicago. A federal judge ruled that Black, 62, may not travel to Canada while awaiting sentencing for swindling the Hollinger International media empire he once ran out of millions of dollars....
Conrad Black, former head of the Hollinger International Inc. newspaper empire, leaves federal court Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007 in Chicago. A federal judge ruled that Black, 62, may not travel to Canada...   (Associated Press)
This artists rendering shows Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, center wearing a black-and-white prison suit, flanked by his attorney's Billy Martin, left, and Lawrence Woodward, right, as he is sentenced by federal judge Henry Hundson,far right, in Federal Court in Richmond, Va., Monday, Dec. 10, 2007. Vick was sentenced...
This artists rendering shows Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, center wearing a black-and-white prison suit, flanked by his attorney's Billy Martin, left, and Lawrence Woodward, right, as he...   (Associated Press)
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Michael Vick • cocaine • Conrad Black • judge • crack cocaine • sentencing guidelines • US Supreme Court

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