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Second Circuit uses lenity principles to interpret broadly judicial authority to grant crack reductions

By Douglas A. Berman

The Second Circuit today in US v. McGee, No. 08-1619 (2d Cir. Jan. 23, 2009) (available here), works through the particulars of whether and when a defendant may be able to get the benefit of the new crack guidelines.  The opinion's methodology, as well as its result, may hearten a lot of defendants and counsel who have not been able to get all the relief they seek through crack reduction motions.  Here are the key concluding sections of the McGee ruling: We acknowledge that U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10 can be read to permit a reduced sentence only where the defendant?s pre-departure sentencing range is found within the crack cocaine guidelines. However, ?the meaning of language is inherently contextual [and] the [Supreme] Court has always reserved lenity for those situations in which a reasonable doubt persists about a statute?s intended scope even after resort to the language and structure, legislative history, and motivating policies of the statute...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on January 23, 2009 (boomark / email).