Report your Booker stories here

I have received a very thoughtful request to start a “post with the goal of collecting ‘Booker stories’ from the district courts around the country via the comments.”  As the request stated, “having a single place for that information could make it easier to get a handle on exactly what is going on ‘on the ground’ in the wake of Booker.”

So, this post is for Booker stories.  The requestor got things started by reporting on two sentencings in his building in the Southern District of West Virginia today by two different judges.  Here’s the report:

Both were low offense level cases, but both judges mentioned Booker in one way or another.  In the first case, the defendant’s offense level came in at 12 (marijuana conspiracy charge).  The defendant spent 4.5 months in custody following her arrest and has since been on bond and going through drug rehab.  The judge noted that the Guidelines were now advisory, but proceeded to impose a Guideline-sanctioned sentence of 10 months imprisonment, 4.5 already served and 5.5 on home confinement, and 3 years of supervised release.

In the second case, the defendant also came in at an offense level of 12 (theft charge).  The defendant is 81 years old and very ill.  After noting the advisory nature of the Guidelines, which would have required some time “in custody,” the judge imposed a sentence of a 10-month term of home confinement as a condition of that probation.  The judge used his new-found power under Booker to avoid the requriements of Zone C of the Sentencing Table that would have required at least 5 months of actual incarceration.

So it appears that, in the SDWV at least, the “advisory” nature of the Guidelines may provide some relief, although there have been no hearings with seriously contested enhancements or relevant conduct yet, to my knowledge.  No word from Judge Goodwin yet, either.