Is it too early to try to calculate former Prez Trump’s possible federal sentencing guideline range?
In one of my early articles, I discussed at length the challenges for defense attorneys presented by the intricacies of federal sentencing law. As I explained:
From the very outset of representation, a defense attorney needs to assess the range of possible trial and sentencing outcomes for his client in order to properly craft an effective defense strategy and evaluate the prospects for striking a beneficial plea bargain. In the federal system, this not only entails basic investigation concerning the defendant’s guilt, but also requires counsel to make an initial assessment of the defendant’s possible sentence under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
This old article came to mind this morning as I contemplated whether to do a post about reports that former Prez Donald Trump is now facing a multi-count federal indictment related to his handling of classified documents. Though I doubt former Prez Trump will be seriously considering any plea deals anytime soon, his defense lawyers should still be starting on guideline calculations.
Meanwhile, though it seems the specifics of the indictment will not be public until early next week, a few press pieces are already discussing former Prez Trump’s statutory sentencing exposure based on reports of the apparent charges in his indictment:
From Forbes, “What Crimes Was Trump Charged With In Federal Documents Case? Here’s What We Know — And How Much Prison Time He Could Face“
From the New York Post, “Here are the charges and how many years Trump faces in federal Mar-a-Lago indictment“
Even though we do not know exactly the nature of all the charges, the New York Post piece concludes by asserting that “If convicted on all seven charges, the ex-president could face a 75-year prison sentence.” Of course, adding up the maximum sentence on all counts serves as a poor metric for assessing what likely sentence an indicted person might really face. The applicable federal guideline range is a better metric, though that range is only advisory and the sentencing of a former president (and current presidential candidate) surely raises a number of unique 3553(a) sentencing issues.
Especially because we are still awaiting word from the Supreme Court on the use of acquitted conduct at sentencing (background here and here), I am tempted to use the indictment of former Prez Trump to try to bring more attention to that issue. Based on current law, federal prosecutors could and likely would seek to have former Prez Trump sentenced on — and have his guideline range driven by — all their allegations even if he were acquitted on six of seven counts. Interesting times.
UPDATE: The federal indictment of former Prez Donald Trump was unsealed this afternoon and can be found at this link. The indictment runs 49 pages and has a total of 37 counts brought against the former president (with stat maxes adding up to 400 total years in prison, I believe).