Legal News

Madoff Won?t Appeal 150-year Sentence; Judge Chin Teases Us

By Amir Efrati

Over the past hour or so, Bernard Madoff’s lawyer, Ike Sorkin, has spread word to reporters (including the Law Blog) of his client’s decision not to challenge the 150-year prison sentence handed down last week by U.S. District Judge Denny Chin (pictured). Here’s the story from DJN’s Chad Bray.

That decision is hardly surprising, considering that the sentence Madoff got was within the federal sentencing guidelines calculated by the judge. (150 years = the total maximum prison penalties for 11 felony counts to which Madoff pleaded guilty.) In other words, Sorkin couldn’t argue that Chin had unfairly departed from the advisory guidelines. See prior LB coverage of Chin’s decision here.

Speaking of Chin, the unlikely star of last week’s Madoff hearing left the federal courthouse this morning and mosied across Foley Square to the U.S. Court of International Trade, where the U.S. Sentencing Commission set up shop for a public hearing on all things sentencing-related.

According to Chin’s prepared remarks before the commission, the judge set the audience up for a titillating discussion on Madoff:

In the days since, the sentence has been dissected and debated, both in the popular press and the academic media. The discussion has been healthy: What are the goals of punishment? Did the sentence further those goals? Should helping victims heal be a goal of punishment? Is a financial crime such as securities fraud really “evil?” Is there any point to a sentence of years far longer than a defendant is expected to live? Is such a sentence merely pandering to the public?

By the last question, we were holding our breath. But just as quickly, we exhaled in disappointment.

Continued Chin: “We are here today, of course, not to take on these questions, but to discuss the Sentencing Guidelines. But the Madoff case underscores how difficult sentencing can be.”

Chin would utter the name “Madoff” only two more times.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 09, 2009 (boomark / email).