High Court ruling could mean fairer sentences

Nevada's federal public defender says the U.S. Supreme Court ruling freeing federal judges from mandatory sentencing guidelines could open the door to fairer sentences, based more on the circumstances of individual cases rather than some formula.

Frannie Forsman said the way the ruling is written, a federal judge could go either higher or lower than the sentencing guidelines would permit in cases with no statutory requirement such as a mandatory minimum.

Forsman said although there have been a number of prominent cases in which the judge deviated from guidelines in sentencing and a number of protests by politicians, there have been very few instances of judges deviating in sentencing in Nevada.

"I'm hoping our judges will seize the opportunity to exercise more discretion now that they've been freed up by the Supreme Court," she said. "The job of my lawyers is going to be to get the judges to think outside the guideline box."

Forsman said the decision is good because there have been cases in which the guidelines called for a sentence that was far too harsh. She said often that is the person in a multiple-defendant case who is "the least culpable in some conspiracy." An example, she said, would be the battered woman involved with a felon.

"Now the judge is in a position to pass a sentence that's more creative than what the guidelines permitted," she said.

Forsman said prosecutors will also argue for judges to exceed the guidelines in cases in which they believe it's appropriate, so the Supreme Court ruling basically opens up the whole system.

She said the ruling will change how all trials are conducted because what the defense presents is very different under guidelines than without them.

"When it's a guideline sentence, it's numbers and limits," she said.

She said, hopefully the ruling's result will mean sentences are tailored more to the specifics of each case.

"Let me say I'm eternally hopeful giving judges discretion will result in the exercise of a little more compassion," she said.

Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at nevadaappeal@sbcglobal.net or 687-8750.