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ACLU makes argument for right to counsel at crack retroactivity proceeding

By Douglas A. Berman

Yesterday, I received a press release from the ACLU noting the filing of a notable brief in the Fifth Circuit.  Here are the basics: The American Civil Liberties Union today filed its opening brief before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in an effort to preserve the constitutional right to counsel for those seeking resentencing based on the recent reduction to the federal sentencing guideline range for crack-cocaine offenses. ?When an individual?s freedom hangs in the balance, fundamental fairness and the most basic of our constitutional protections demand that the right to counsel be honored,? said Adam Wolf, a staff attorney with the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project.  ?Those unfairly sentenced under the initial, now infamous crack-cocaine guidelines must not face further injustice through the denial of necessary and deserved legal representation...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on November 22, 2008 (boomark / email).