Court Opinion

ID: 9440417
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 16:46:05.65073+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:27:39.396078
License: Public Domain

MERRITT, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the Court’s opinion, but I agree with the District Court that the prosecution’s decision to seek a mandatory sentence of 20 years under 21 U.S.C. § 851 passes all understanding. The District Court said: “I recognize you [AUSA] do this at the behest of your superiors. But I can’t sit here today and impose this sentence without saying it’s wrong, and you can take that message to whoever you think might listen.” The Judicial Conference of the United States for almost 20 years, and the Sentencing Commission for almost 10 years, have pleaded with the judiciary committees of Congress to do something about the serious injustices that these long, mandatory minimum sentences impose — to no avail. This is a 20-year sentence for a nonviolent crime by a defendant with a serious mental illness. His incarceration will cost the American taxpayers in today’s dollars somewhere between $600,000 and $1,000,000. With some carefully monitored rehabilitation treatment, it is possible that he could be released in just a few years. Like the District Judge, I think that the prosecution’s purely discretionary decision to ratchet up this sentence to 20 years is misguided and ought to be reconsidered when the judgment becomes final.