Opinion ID: 1907719
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Release or extinguish.

Text: The government's reliance in these appeals on the federal and local general savings statutes rests entirely on its theory that the MMSAA released or extinguished the penalties which applied under prior law. If there has been no release or extinguishment, then neither of these statutes has any application, [12] and the sentencing judge must apply the law in effect at the time of sentencing. See United States v. Schooner Peggy, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 103, 110, 2 L.Ed. 49 (1801); Oliver, supra, 151 N.Y.S.2d at 372-73, 134 N.E.2d at 201. The majority does not contest this proposition. Two of the defendants in these cases  Steven Holiday and Frederick R. Burgess  were convicted of distribution of crack cocaine. A third defendant, James H. Palmer was convicted of distribution of dilaudid. It is undisputed that prior to the effective date of the MMSAA, the mandatory minimum sentence for the offenses committed by each of these men was four years. See D.C.Code § 33-541(c)(1)(A-1)(A-2). Jae Hoa Park was convicted of possession of powdered cocaine with intent to distribute it (PWID). As a result of the statutory quirk discussed in Part II of this opinion, Ms. Park was subject to, and received, a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. See D.C.Code § 33-541(c)(1)(A-2)(ii) (1993). Contrary to the assumption on which the government's argument rests, the MMSAA was not designed to release or extinguish the penalties to which these defendants were subject. After the effective date of the Act, the maximum penalty for all four defendants was imprisonment for thirty years. See D.C.Code § 33-541(a)(2)(A) (1993). This means that, under the District's felony sentencing practice, each defendant could be sentenced to serve a minimum of ten and a maximum of thirty years. See D.C.Code § 24-203(a) (1996) (minimum period of incarceration in indeterminate felony sentence shall not exceed one-third of maximum sentence). In the cases of Holiday, Burgess and Palmer, each sentencing judge was thus authorized under the MMSAA to impose minimum terms of incarceration two and one half times as long as the previous mandatory sentence. The judge in Ms. Park's case was authorized under the MMSAA to send her to prison for a minimum term twice as long as the mandatory minimum established by prior law. In my view, the sentencing court's retention of the authority to impose sentences far more severe than the previous mandatory minimum terms conclusively refutes the notion that the prior penalties have been extinguished or released. [13] A penalty cannot reasonably be said to have been extinguished if the sentencing judge can continue to impose it, and if he or she may even order a defendant's incarceration for twice as long or longer than the former mandatory minimum period. [14] A sentence of from four to twelve years is no longer called a mandatory minimum sentence, but a judge can still make a defendant serve it. The word release is concededly more ambiguous than extinguish, but the savings statutes assuredly do not plainly require the preservation of mandatory minimum sentencing authority. Cf. Bass, supra, 404 U.S. at 348, 92 S.Ct. at 522-23; McCarthy, supra, 20 App.D.C. at 202. [15] The present case may profitably be compared with Hurwitz v. United States, 60 App.D.C. 298, 53 F.2d 552 (1931), which the government characterizes as binding authority. In Hurwitz, a case involving the prohibition laws, the Jones Act, which was in force at the time of the commission of the offense, authorized a penalty of imprisonment for five years and a fine of $10,000. An amendment to the Jones Act which became effective a few days before Hurwitz was sentenced reduced the maximum penalty to imprisonment for six months and a fine of $500. The court held that in accordance with the federal savings statute, Hurwitz was properly sentenced under the earlier and more severe provisions. In Hurwitz, however, the amending legislation plainly extinguished the penalties authorized by the Jones Act at the time Hurwitz committed the crime, for a prison sentence of more than six months, or a fine of more than $500, could no longer be imposed under the statute as amended. This represents a dramatic contrast to the present case, in which the judge retains the authority to impose not only the same period of imprisonment available under the mandatory minimum sentencing scheme, but also a far longer term. As a practical matter, the MMSAA effectively preserved, and did not release or extinguish, penalties previously in effect. Indeed, in urging its enactment, the proponents of the statute pointed out to the Council members that the MMSAA would not prevent the imposition of long sentences in appropriate cases. See page 94, supra. The essence of the MMSAA was to provide judges with additional discretionary sentencing options, which would allow the punishment to fit the crime and the offender, and would thus avoid injustice in individual cases. To me, it is simply incongruous to suggest that these savings statutes, which were designed primarily to prevent technical abatements and the absurd consequences that could sometimes flow from the common law rule, should now be construed as saving judges from their right to exercise sentencing options which the legislature has effectively found to be essential in order to avoid injustice. [16]