The Roger Stone sentence was entirely appropriate. It's the sentencing guidelines that need to change | Opinion

In my 10 years at the Justice Department, I was both a political appointee and a line prosecutor. In the latter role, I sought every kind of sentence, from probation to the death penalty. In my view, both Attorney General Barr and Judge Jackson did the right thing. Any lawyer who knows anything about federal sentencing knows that seven to nine years for a 67-year-old first offender for obstruction of Congress is a grotesquely excessive sentence.

Attorney General Barr properly acted to see justice done, but his action happened to coincide with a series of Presidential tweets. Whatever the source, General Barr was duty-bound to intervene once the untenable sentencing recommendation came to his attention. Judge Jackson's ultimate sentence of 40 months confirms Mr. Barr's good judgment. Who is the real culprit here? It is Justice Department sentencing policy and the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

Under the guidelines, the base level for obstruction of justice would yield a sentencing range of 15 to 21 months for Mr. Stone. Mr. Stone undoubtedly engaged in witness tampering which raises his sentencing range to 41 to 51 months. How did the probation office and the line prosecutors get to seven to nine years imprisonment?

The answer lies in what are known as"enhancements" to the guideline sentence. But as the government's initial sentencing memorandum itself acknowledged, at least two of these enhancements overlapped substantially with the underlying offense conduct. For example, the original Justice Department sentencing memorandum argued that an eight level enhancement was appropriate for a two-year campaign of cajoling and threatening a witness.

The second fundamental problem with the guideline sentence in Mr. Stone's case was uniformity and fairness among similar cases. The highest example of a sentence for similar conduct contained in the government's original sentencing memorandum is 35 months. In the sentencing statute passed by Congress, one of the key factors is"the need to avoid unwarranted sentencing disparity among defendants.

But weren’t the sentence guidelines created for punishment to suit the crime ?

Democrats are pure evil and are not above the law. As an American citizen I demand justice be served. Or are Democrats really above the law? Well

Rich or thief constant liar trump friend get off easy !

So true. In California, any vandalism over 400 dollars can result in a felony charge, up to three years incarceration and ten grand in fines. However, any theft under 950 dollars, is simply a fine.

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