Constitutional Law

Sentence First, Conviction Never?

When the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Hurn v. U.S. on Monday, March 31, it refused to review judicially imposed punishments of defendants acquitted for certain crimes, David Savage reported in the Los Angeles Times.

Judges can sentence a convict based upon the "entire range of conduct" presented by prosecutors, not just charges resulting in guilty verdicts, so long as the conduct has been proved according to a preponderance of the evidence, according to a 1997 per curiam decision in U.S. v. Watts.

Mark Hurn, the Times reported, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on a drug possession conviction, which typically results in a 2-3 year sentence. He was acquitted of possessing crack cocaine, which carries a 15 year sentence. Prosecutors argued, and U.S. District Court Judge John Shabazz agreed, that Hurn should be punished for both the crack and powder cocaine offenses despite the acquittal. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in 2007

Full post as published by ACS Blog on December 31, 1969 (boomark / email).