From: smith+@cs.cmu.edu (Sean Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Arrest on the net
Date: 15 Oct 92 18:21:16 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
Distribution: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

In article <1992Oct15.164747.29265@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:

>I don't remember the details, but I recall them being different from
>what you posted. Does anyone have the article handy?
>
>Bill

For the THIRD time... (a three-sided snuff record?)

Subject: Divided court upholds sentence in 'snuff' film case
Date: 3 Sep 92 17:43:09 GMT

	RICHMOND, Va. (UPI) -- A sharply divided federal appeals court
Thursday upheld the 30-year prison sentence a Richmond man received for
plotting to kidnap, sexually assault and murder a child, videotape the
crimes and then sell the ``snuff'' film.
	The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Dean Lambey's
contention that he should have been allowed to withdraw his guilty plea
because his lawyer had underestimated the scope of his sentence.
	``The undisputed facts reveal that the attorney discussions, relied
on by Lambey, involved estimates which Lambey knew were only
predictions,'' said Judge Paul Niemeyer in writing for the majority. 
``Thus the very advice received by Lambey informed him that his plea was
not being given for a specific sentence or sentence range, but rather
that the sentence would be determined by the court.''
	But five dissenting judges disagreed as to the fairness of the
federal sentencing guidelines in the case and the justice of refusing to
allow Lambey to withdraw his plea once he realized he faced a much
stiffer sentence.
	Authorities arrested Lambey in August 1989, six months after a
California undercover officer posing as a bisexual pedophile initiated a
conversation on a computerized bulletin board.
	Lambey told the undercover officer of his plan to kidnap a child for
use in the pornographic film. He was arrested after he told the officer
he had spotted a likely victim, a boy about 13 years old.
	Authorities also arrested a second man, Daniel DePew of Alexandria,
in connection with the plot, which was to have been carried out in
Lambey's Richmond home. DePew was later convicted.
	A U.S. District Court judge sentenced Lambey to 30 years on one count
of conspiracy and 10 years on a pornography charge, with the sentences
to run concurrently. But Lambey argued he would have opted for a trial
instead of a plea agreement had he known he would be serving more than
the nine to 10 years that his lawyer had estimated.
	Lambey's appeal first went to a three-member panel of the appeals
court. After it upheld the full sentence, Lambey took the case to the
full 13-member court. Eight judges voted to uphold the sentence while
five dissented.
	Three of the dissenters said the case should have been returned to
the lower court to allow Lambey to enter a new plea. Two dissenters
suggested the sentence should be overturned and the length of his
sentence refigured.
	``Dean Lambey conspired with Daniel Depew to kidnap a boy and then
sexually abuse and murder him in the process of making a 'snuff' film,''
Judge Kenneth Hall wrote in his dissent. ``For this he was sentenced to
30 years in prison.
	``Even to talk of such awful crimes is abhorrent, but the extent of
what occurred was just that, talk,'' he said. ``If a defendant, instead
of talking about kidnapping his intended victim, conspires to murder
him, attempts to murder him, and inflicts permanent or life-threatening
injuries, his guideline range would nevertheless be strikingly lower
than the 360-life range applied to Lambey's conspiracy conviction.''


--Sean ``no joy in Mudville'' Smith

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                         sean.smith@cs.cmu.edu
                     carnegie mellon computer science

          posting from PITTSBURGH, the center of the AFUniverse!
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Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban