Three wise sentencing opinions coming from the east (and west) this holiday week

I should know better than to try biblical allusions during this holiday week, but a trio of new and notable sentencing opinions from the First Circuit make a three wise men analogy almost irresistible. The these opinions sharing sentencing wisdom from the east are US v. Giggey, No. 07-2317 (1st Cir. Dec. 22, 2008) (available here), US v. Sherman, No. 08-1385 (1st Cir. Dec. 22, 2008) (available here), and US v. Caraballo, No. 08-1555 (1st Cir. Dec. 22, 2008) (available here).  Here is a quick account of what’s covered in these cases:

Caraballo considers whether “the Sentencing Commission’s recent amendment to the drug quantity table, USSG App. C, Amend. 706 (2007), offer[s] a potential remedy to a defendant who, although convicted of a drug-trafficking offense involving crack cocaine, was ultimately sentenced as a career offender.”  (The panel says no go to the defendant seeking a sentence reduction.)

Sherman considers whether there was sufficient evidence to support a defendant’s jury conviction for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.  (The panel says there was, just barely.)

Giggey, which is likely the most important ruling of this trio, starts with this introduction: “The court took this case en banc to consider again whether a conviction for a non-residential burglary is per se a ‘crime of violence’ under the Career Offender Sentencing Guideline, U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2.”  (Not anymore says the full First Circuit (which right now has only two more judges than a regular circuit panel).)

Though most sentencing decisions from the First Circuit are thoughtful, these three opinion cover a lot of sentencing ground quite cautiously and conscientiously.  Thus, I think it is fair to describe all the opinions as wise (though I suspect very few defendants will consider them divine).

UPDATE:  The Tenth Circuit has also been churning out a number of notable sentencing opinions this week, too.  I cannot do all the opinions justice (which can be accessed via the Circuit’s opinion’s page) through a quick summary, but there is new stuff to be found about crack sentencing and crime of violence priors and other classic modern federal sentencing issues.