Posted on: Thursday, January 13, 2005

Local reaction to change in sentencing guidelines mixed

By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer

The way federal judges here sentence more than 300 defendants a year will change as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court decision yesterday.

The court ruled that judges are free to mete out prison terms that are shorter or longer than those called for under federal sentencing guidelines. The current sentencing rules can stand, the justices said, as long as they are considered "advisory," not mandatory.

The ruling may also lead to new sentences for defendants who are now appealing their cases, but it was not immediately clear how many that might be.

It's estimated that dozens of criminal cases from Hawai'i are being appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but not all of them will be affected by the high court's ruling.

Like legal observers around the country, lawyers here say it's difficult to predict whether this will mean longer or shorter sentences for defendants.

The fallout from the high court's 5-4 decision affects federal courts throughout the country, and Hawai'i is no exception, according to Chief U.S. District Judge David Ezra.

Judges will now have more discretion in sentencing, according to the high court. They no longer will be bound by federal guidelines which calculate a range of sentences based on formulas that include the nature of the crime and the defendant's background.

"What eventually will occur will depend largely on district courts and courts of appeal interpreting the Supreme Court opinion," Ezra said. "I don't think anybody can say definitely for now how it will work over the long term. That will come when decisions are handed down."

The federal guidelines have come under fire from judges here and nationwide for restricting their discretion at sentencing.

Ezra called the high court's decision fair and said he's "not unhappy with it."

"I think that anything which allows judges to tailor their sentences to the individual defendant and the specific crime they committed ... is good news for federal judges and the community at large because defendants should be sentenced on their individual characteristics and the actual offense they commit," he said.

William Harrison, a Honolulu criminal defense lawyer, said he has mixed reactions. By giving the judges more discretion, "it's going to have both negative and positive effects depending on your client and which judge you're before," he said.

Federal Public Defender Peter Wolff said it's too early to say what the ruling will mean for sentences. "I think the net result is going to be some courts will think the guideline sentences are too long and some will think it's too short, depending on the circumstances of the particular case," he said.

The U.S. Attorney's Office here declined to comment on the ruling.

The latest figures from the U.S. Sentencing Commission show that 375 defendants were sentenced in federal courts here in the fiscal year, Oct. 1, 2001 to Sept. 30, 2002. The current number is believed to be in that range.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.