We don’t often delve into the criminal law decisions, particularly sentencing, but I wanted to shout out to ex-Pierce Atwood-iste Tina Schneider, who landed a victory in U.S. v. Cotto-Negrón, No. 14-1670.
Basically, the trial judge, (Judge Fusté) gave a two level enhancement when he didn’t give the same enhancement to the other defendants in the exact same situation. The Court skirted the broader issue whether or when that’s allowed as a general matter, by ruling that here it was not here because the ground the trial judge articulated for the deviation was not supported in the record. (The two level enhancement was for inflicting bodily injury on the victim. The other defendants didn’t get the enhancement, and the record was the same as to each defendants’ conduct. The trial judge made statements indicating that he thought that the record was not the same as to each defendant.)
So first, congratulations Tina.
So here we have