Sentencing

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma Under New York’s Sex Offender Registration Act, a judge determines risk.  That’s a good thing, because it ensures that the defendant (i.e. convicted sex offender) has an opportunity to be heard.  But the current system is a mess, with an outdated “risk assessment instrument” (“RAI”) that routinely and predictably yields the wrong …

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma Pretty much every defendant arrested by the feds — the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Homeland Security or the FBI — is subjected to a cheek swab.  The agents politely and painlessly take a little DNA from your cheek with a q-tip as you are being fingerprinted, photographed and “processed.”  You …

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma Attorneys Adam Perlmutter and Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma have filed a complaint in Federal court in Albany alleging a pervasive pattern of sexual abuse by a prison guard.  According to the complaint, Corrections Officer Simon Prindle routinely sexually abused inmates by fondling their genitals during unnecessary searches at the facility, located in Napanoch, New …

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma There was a fascinating report in the New York Times today about delays in the state courts in the Bronx, and a particular lawyer who — according to the Times — uses the delays to his clients’ advantage.  This is a very, very different approach from the one we take in federal …

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma According to the New York Times, a lawsuit over unpaid legal bills has given rise to a counterclaim for massive overbilling by one of the world’s largest law firms. Emails disclosed in discovery make the practice sound not only routine, but suggest it was the firm’s policy. As a lawyer put it …

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma According to online news outlet Main Justice, the Southern District’s Judge Jed Rakoff came out with a “modest proposal” to scrap the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines governing fraud and other financial crimes “in their entirety.”  The plainspoken senior judge, who has presided over many high-profile white-collar criminal cases, told a group of white-collar …

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma The United States Sentencing Commission has finally released its long-awaited report on child pornography.  At upwards of 400 pages full of facts, figures, charts, graphs and statistics, it is an overwhelming document that comprehensively surveys the issues that arise in child pornography cases.  It contains detailed recommendations relating to adjusting — not …

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma The Supreme Court has been busy lately fine-tuning the law on search-and-seizure, assistance of counsel and post-conviction procedures.  Here’s a super-quick rundown of the holdings from the past couple of weeks — and one or two biased comments.

BY ZACHARY MARGULIS-OHNUMA Since the Supreme Court made the federal Sentencing Guidelines advisory and not mandatory on courts in 2005 in U.S. v. Booker, judges have struggled with how much weight to give the Guidelines in particular cases.  Different judges have reached different results in different circumstances.  Some well-formulated Guidelines command respect, and are frequently …

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma Judge John Gleeson of the Eastern District of New York has written a scathing opinion criticizing the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines approach to drug trafficking offenses.  The Guidelines for heroin, cocaine and crack are, in short, unjustifiably high and “structurally flawed.”  Judge Gleeson explains: “The flaw is simply stated: the Guidelines ranges for …

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma Late last year, President Obama quietly signed into law the  Child Protection Act of 2012 (“CPA”).  Primarily publicized as a piece of anti-trafficking legislation, the CPA has serious sentencing consequences for federal defendants accused of child pornography offenses.  Under the CPA, some defendants convicted of possessing or accessing child pornography depicting young …