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Split Seventh Circuit panel discusses importance of right to allocute

By Douglas A. Berman

A split Seventh Circuit has an extended and interesting discussion of a defendant's right to allocute and lots of other notable issues in US v. Noel, No. 07-2468 (7th Cir. Sept. 4, 2009) (available here), which is yet another ugly federal child porn case.  The start of the dissenting opinion from Judge Williams provides a good summary of all the issues discussed in the Noel opinions: I join my colleagues wholeheartedly in affirming Noel?s conviction and agree that any errors that may have occurred during trial were harmless due to the overwhelming evidence of his egregious conduct. I write separately, however, because I disagree with the panel?s conclusion that the denial of his right to allocute did not undermine the fairness of the judicial proceedings...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on September 04, 2009 (boomark / email).