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Another story about the local implementation of the new crack guidelines

By Douglas A. Berman

Today the local details of crack retroactivity come from this piece in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, headlined "Crack cocaine inmates may gain early release." Here are snippets: Convicted crack dealer John J. Betts got a break in his federal prison sentence Friday ? one of seven men and women who had their sentences reduced in federal court in St. Louis under new guidelines aimed at reducing the punishment faced by crack cocaine defendants.... Betts' sentence was cut by 21 months Friday, but he will actually be freed only a month earlier than scheduled, as his release date had already been moved up for good behavior. Friday's hearings in front of U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber were the first in eastern Missouri, but judges also can handle the resentencings without a formal court hearing...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 23, 2008 (boomark / email).