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Tag Archives: sentencing

Commentary: Mandatory minimum sentences are cruel and ineffective. Sessions wants them back.

Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructed the nation’s 2,300 federal prosecutors to pursue the most serious charges in all but exceptional cases. Rescinding a 2013 policy that sought to avoid mandatory minimums for low-level, nonviolent drug offenders, Sessions wrote it ...

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A drug dealer got a life sentence and was devastated. So was the judge who sentenced him.

When Evans Ray Jr. stood in a federal courtroom in 2007 after arranging a drug sale, a judge explained, at length, that he didn’t want to hand down the mandatory life sentence required by law. “It is my desire not ...

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A struggle to share personal pain in court

Katy Vilardo leaned back on her sofa next to her cat, Otis, opened her laptop and steeled herself. “When I would get in the car in the morning,” the 33-year-old typed, “the first thing I would do is call mom ...

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Buffalo man sentenced on drug charges

A Buffalo man was sentenced to 24 months of probation after being convicted of obtaining and possessing a controlled substance by fraud. U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. said Christopher Gorzynski, 26, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard J. ...

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Rochester man, 70, sentenced for illegal gambling operation

A Rochester businessman convicted of running an illegal gambling operation that involved a professional hockey player has been sentenced. Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday that 70-year-old Paul Borrelli was sentenced to three years’ probation and eight months home detention. He was ...

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Second Circuit – Sentencing: United States v. Matta

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit – Sentencing – Outpatient/Inpatient Drug Treatment Programs – Discretion to Probation Officer   United States v. Matta 13-4078-cr Judges Cabranes, Lohier and Engelmayer   Background: The defendant had violated his supervised release ...

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