Understanding and appreciating Judge Cassell’s Wilson opinion
I am not surprised that TalkLeft and many commentors are disappointed by Judge Cassell’s Wilson rulingJustice Breyer surely hoped, seek to create a post-Booker federal sentencing world that looks a lot like the pre-Blakely guidelines world.
But everyone should, as I have urged before, take a deep breath before coming to any big judgments about Wilson or Booker or anything else we see and read about the future of federal sentencing in the days ahead. Moreover, in this post (and perhaps future ones), I will try to give some reasons why the Wilson decision, as I suggested here, merits far more praise than criticism.
1. Consider the crime: Judge Cassell gave “heavy weight to the Guidelines” in a case involving a armed bank robbery committed by a defendant with an extensive criminal history. Wilson slip op. at 28-29. Few have criticized the length of federal guideline sentences in these sorts of cases (as opposed to non-violent crimes by first offenders), and the sentence of 15+ years for defendant Wilson (188 months) actually seems quite moderate for a “five-time” felon who committed a serious crime with a sawed-off shotgun that terrorized victims. Id. at 30.
2. Consider the context: The defendant in Wilson had apparently admitted all the guidelines facts and signed a Blakely waiver. Id. at 31-32. Consequently, if the Stevens/Scalia/Thomas proposed remedy in Booker had carried the day, it seems Judge Cassell would have been required to impose a sentence of no less than 188 months and would have had (unreviewable) discretion to impose a sentence up to 235 months. But, because Breyer’s remedy carried the day, Judge Cassell clearly had discretion to impose a sentence less than 188 months and, arguably because of the parsimony mandate (discussed here), did not have discretion to go above 188 months. See id. at 6 & 21-26.
3. Consider the decision: Judge Cassell’s ruling is direct, clear, cogent and provides needed and extremely helpful (and immediate!) guidance for lawyers and defendants facing sentencings in his court. He also provides an expressly purpose-driven account and defense of the federal guidelines — and along the way invigorates the parsimony mandate, see id. at 21-23 and my parsimony post here — which is more thoughtful and transparent than any federal sentencing decision I have ever seen.
Though I disagree with a number of Judge Cassell’s substantive conclusions in Wilson, his work is (super-fast) judging at its finest — unlike, I have to say, some of the judicial work of the DC Nine earlier in the week. Moreover, in addition to expressly refusing to enforce the defendant’s Blakely waiver, id. at 32, Judge Cassell gave the parties 10 days to file any and all objections to his ruling so he could reconsider his conclusions in light of further input from the parties.
4. Consider the decision-maker: Wilson is the view of the post-Booker world from just one (very smart) district judge. Let’s see what some other very smart district judges —particularly those judges working toward a place in the Sentencing Judges Hall of Fame such as Judges Bataillon and Gertner and Goodwin and Holmes and Lynch and Molloy and Weinstein and Young and so many others — have to say on these matters. (And, of course, we also have to hear from the entire cadre of circuit judges and probably the DC Nine, too, before we can really assess what Booker has done for federal sentencing.)