Pubdate: Fri, 08 Aug 2003
Source: Athens Banner-Herald (GA)
Copyright: 2003 Athens Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.onlineathens.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1535

ASHCROFT MEMO MEANS MORE SENTENCE APPEALS

WASHINGTON (AP)- Attorney General John Ashcroft wants prosecutors to 
closely monitor which judges impose more lenient sentences than federal 
guidelines recommend, a step some critics say could limit judicial 
independence. Ashcroft directed U.S. attorneys nationwide to promptly 
report to Justice Department headquarters when a sentence is a "downward 
departure" from guidelines and not part of a plea agreement in exchange for 
cooperation. "The Department of Justice has a solemn obligation to ensure 
that laws concerning criminal sentencing are faithfully, fairly and 
consistently enforced," Ashcroft wrote in the memo issued July 28. Critics 
say the result will be more power in the hands of prosecutors and 
impermissible restraints on judicial discretion. "It's telling judges from 
the get-go, 'If you want to depart that you will be put on a list and you 
will be watched,"' said Ryan King, research associate with The Sentencing 
Project, a nonprofit group seeking alternatives to prison. "We're no longer 
judging a case on the merits." Prosecutors were told in Ashcroft's memo to 
make sure the government is prepared to appeal more of these sentences if 
such a decision is made by lawyers in Solicitor General Theodore Olson's 
office. The upshot is that more decisions to appeal will be made at "main 
Justice" in Washington rather than left to prosecutors in the field.
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