Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Circuit Split Brewing?

As you all know - the always excellent Sowmya Bharthi, from our stellar FPDs office, had a great win in the 11th in relation to the FSA.  Because of her efforts, the 11th has ruled that so long as a defendant is sentenced after the FSA takes effect, that defendant gets the benefit of the FSA, regardless of when the crime occurred.

The Fourth just issued an opinion that seems to suggest it might disagree with the 11th.  In US v. Taylor, upon request of the government, the 4th vacated a judgment and remanded for resentencing in light of the FSA.  But in doing so, the Court added this:

"By this disposition, however, we indicate no view as to whether the FSA is retroactively applicable to a defendant like Taylor, whose offenses were committed prior to April 3, 2010, the effective date of the FSA, but who was sentenced after that date. We leave that determination in the first instance to the district court."

I guess the district court could get the case and resentence the defendant, holding the FSA does not apply - seems to me that is what the 4th is looking for.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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