Author: Jeremy Gordon

The Justice Department is ceasing a troubling practice after an NPR story shed light on it in February.  Plea agreements that waive the right to seek compassionate release may be coming to an end. The Background:  Plea Agreements and Compassionate Release Most people charged with a crime do not take their case to trial.  The […]

The United States Sentencing Commission has issued a report titled: Compassionate Release: The Impact of the First Step Act and COVID-19 Pandemic. The Commission published a report about the compassionate releases that were sought, granted and denied for fiscal year 2020 (from September of 2019 to September of 2020). There are 7 key findings: Both […]

In the Benton case, the Court determined that “the district court relied on prior convictions that were not identified as predicates in Benton’s presentence report and of which he had no notice at sentencing.” FACTS:  Repeat Offender loses ACCA Challenge Post-Johnson Benton was charged with several charges including a felon in possession of a weapon […]

The United States Sentencing Commission, a non-partisan agency that develops sentencing guidelines for federal criminal cases and takes statistical data for crimes and punishments has developed their annual sourcebook for Fiscal Year 2021. Below are their findings and their fast facts, which is a summary. FY21 Fast Facts The Sourcebook presents information on the 57,287 federal […]

FACTS:  5th Circuit CR case serving life with two 851 convictions In 1992, Ciprano was charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine.  He was convicted and sentenced to life as he had two prior felony drug convictions under 21 USC 841(b).   In 2022, Ciprano filed a compassionate release […]

The Eighth Circuit delivers the end to a cautionary tale about pro-se 2255 filings in Jackson. Facts: 2255 filed by pro se filer after the deadline Jackson was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and was sentenced to 330 months. His appeal was affirmed and his […]

The district of Maryland grants a compassionate release to a person who has both an ACCA enhancement as well as several Stacked 924(c) offenses. FACTS: Bank robber gets mandatory minimum 147 years Graham was charged with six armed robberies spread across four days in 2011. It was alleged that he entered the banks, "brandished a […]

We received word from the Bureau of Prisons that several of our legal calls were canceled or needed to be rescheduled this week because of a “national lockdown.”  We researched the matter further and discovered that the BoP implemented temporary security measures nationwide.   (BOP) - In an abundance of caution, following an incident at one […]

Facts:  Shooting Death, Fingers Pointed, Transcripts Used In the Bronx there was a fight and then later a shooting.  A stray bullet shot from a 9-millimeter handgun (this is important) struck a two-year old kid.  A witness said that Morris was the shooter.  The witness came back to the station and said that Hemphill was […]

Facts:   Cavely was found charged with several offenses arising out of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine.  He was sentenced to 440 months.  He was 37 years old when he was sentenced and he is now 57.  He has served more than half of his sentence, with 53% of his full term and 63% of […]