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Another federal effort to sentence for an uncharged murder

By Douglas A. Berman

This new Baltimore Sun article spotlights another case in which federal prosecutors are looking to use the guidelines relevant conduct rules to obtain a higher federal sentence based on a murder charge that was never formally brought against the defendant:A federal jury decided last year that Gary "Fat Boy" Williams Jr. was a drug dealer. But when his sentencing hearing resumes today in a Baltimore court room, he will face accusations that he was involved in the shooting death of an informant though he has never been charged with murder. Federal prosecutors are mounting what is essentially a trial within a trial in hopes of winning a stiffer sentence. Federal sentencing law allows a judge to consider alleged crimes that have been refuted at trial or which a defendant has never been charged with, a provision that critics say flouts the constitutional protections of the trial-by-jury system...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 16, 2008 (boomark / email).