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Two (very?) important rulings on sentencing authority from the Sixth Circuit

By Douglas A. Berman

Today the Sixth Circuit published two important sentencing opinions: a long new one covering lots of issues in US v. Herrera-Zuniga, No. 08-1540 (6th Cir. July 8, 2009) (available here), and a short older and previously unpublished one in US v. Perez-Vasquez, No. 07-6390 (6th Cir. April 30, 2009) (available here).  I think both are today's must-reads even for federal sentencing practitioners outside the Sixth Circuit. In both Herrera-Zuniga and Perez-Vasquez, the Sixth Circuit panel rejects defendants various claims that their sentences are unreasonable.  In so doing, however, both opinions include passages discussing the nature and scope of the discretion of district judges at sentencing than seem likely to make federal defense attorneys happier than federal prosecutors...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on July 08, 2009 (boomark / email).