Opinion ID: 485248
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Improper Considerations in Sentencing

Text: 19 The following extensive quotation is taken from the sentencing minutes: 20 THE COURT: Call it chance, or whatever you want to call it, about three weeks ago I had a phone call from some folks I had not seen in 13 or 14 years. They invited me to their home because they were having as a houseguest a judge from overseas. It turned out to be a judge from the High Court in Hong Kong. I discussed this case with him without knowing, George Louis, that you had been arrested in Hong Kong for distribution, or, how do they phrase it, trafficking in a dangerous drug, and that you had waived extradition to this country so as to avoid prosecution for the Hong Kong offense. I didn't know that. In fact, I didn't know that until the presentence report was given to me two or three days ago. 21 In connection with the discussion of your case with this Hong Kong judge--I never mentioned your name or the exact facts of the case--all I wanted to do was get a feel as to what kind of sentences the Hong Kong courts were handing out for trafficking in dangerous drugs--the judge was good enough in giving me that feel. He stated to me that, unlike other crimes where the sentence is directed at the criminal, in Hong Kong trafficking in drugs is directed at the crime, and for a first offense, for a minor amount of narcotics, the defendant will get three years; for a first offense there, for anything over a minor amount, such as the amount involved in this case, a defendant will get a minimum of 20 years. 22 The reason that you waived extradition is pretty obvious, became obvious to me at that point. I asked why and he told me why. The authorities in Hong Kong recognize that there is a certain amount of shipment worldwide of narcotic drugs from Hong Kong. They consider it to be a nefarious business. They are right, it is. It is the heroin that comes from Hong Kong that ends up in some junkie's veins here in the streets of New York. Right now some young man or woman is dying right here in the City of New York, dying from heroin that came from the same source as the heroin in this case. 23 Unlike the Hong Kong authorities, who just think it is a nefarious business, here the impact of heroin smuggling from Hong Kong is far greater and has to be treated more severely than situations where people who might be junkies are dealing in small amounts. You were dealing in a major amount of narcotics; you were actually facilitating the pipeline of heroin into this country and you were doing it for one thing--greed. 24 Sentencing Hearing Transcript at 6-8. 25 Immediately following the above statement, the district court sentenced Louis to a term of imprisonment of twenty years on Count One, twenty years on Count Two and fifteen years on Count Three. The court directed that the sentence imposed on Counts Two and Three run concurrently with the sentence imposed on Count One. In addition, Louis was sentenced to special parole for life on Count Two, to commence upon expiration of the prison sentence. 21 U.S.C. Sec. 960. The maximum sentence on each count was imprisonment for twenty years. Garden Lawson and Milan Lama had been sentenced to prison terms of three years and five years respectively. 26 It has long been established that an appellate court has no control over a sentence that is within the limits imposed by statute, unless the sentence is informed by improper or inaccurate information. Dorszynski v. United States, 418 U.S. 424, 94 S.Ct. 3042, 41 L.Ed.2d 855 (1974); United States v. Harris, 558 F.2d 366 (7th Cir.1977). Although the sentence imposed by the district court judge was within statutory bounds, Louis had no opportunity to challenge the accuracy of the information furnished to the district judge by an unknown judicial officer from Hong Kong. Aside from the fact that the district judge appeared to rely almost entirely on sentencing standards established in a different jurisdiction, there was no opportunity for the defendant to determine whether those standards applied to him or whether they existed at all. Ex parte conversations or correspondence with experts, law teachers or otherwise, is unfair and can be misleading. The facts given may be incomplete or inaccurate, the problem can be incorrectly stated or other matters can be incorrectly stated. Denecke, The Judiciary Needs Your Help, Teachers, 22 J. Legal Educ. 197, 203 (1969), quoted in Matter of Fuchsberg, 426 N.Y.S.2d 639, 648 (N.Y.Ct.Jud.1978). While consulting an outside expert regarding matters sub judice is not entirely prohibited, [t]he interests of all parties are protected if, in each case where an expert is consulted, the parties are informed of his identity, the substance of his advice and allowed an opportunity to respond. Failure to observe such safeguards creates the possibility of unfairness. Matter of Fuchsberg, 426 N.Y.S.2d at 648. This, in fact, is the rationale behind Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(c)(3) relating to disclosure of information in pre-sentence reports and the right to challenge inaccuracies contained therein. Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(c)(3)(D). 27 In view of the foregoing and of all the circumstances, we deem it best that the matter be remanded for sentencing before another judge.