Excerpts: L.A. police sentences explained
Article Abstract:
Excerpts from Judge John G. Davies' sentencing memorandum for the federal civil rights trial of two police officers involved in the Rodney King beating are presented. The judge found that most of the beatings depicted in the videotape constituted a lawful use of force by officer Laurence M. Powell and Stacey C. Koon. Other reasons for reducing Koon's and Powell's sentences below that desired by the prosecutors and specified in the sentencing guidelines include their lack of prior criminal history, they are unlikely to commit future crimes, and they have already suffered as a result of the case's notoriety.
Publication Name: The National Law Journal
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0162-7325
Year: 1993
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Doing the time for the crime: sentence reductions of LAPD officers in Rodney King case under review
Article Abstract:
The US Supreme Court's consideration of sentences given to former LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell brings together a rare confluence of forces. Its decision will determine whether appellate courts give de novo or deferential review to trial judges' decisions to depart from federal sentencing guidelines. A decision favoring de novo review would discourage the practice, while one encouraging discretion would promote it. Justice Stephen Breyer, a moderate on the Court, helped write the guidelines.
Publication Name: ABA Journal
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0747-0088
Year: 1996
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Judge Posner: statutory rape not always 'violent;' but other 7th Cir. members say it always warrants stiffer violent-crime sentences
Article Abstract:
The US Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled in United States v. Shannon that statutory rape did not always merit classification as a violent crime for the prupose of enhancing a base sentence mandated for the sentence for a subsequent criminal conviction in the federal courts. Judge Richard Posner, the chief appellate judge, suggested the trial court's confusion to be due to a vagueness in defining violent as including the use of force or giving the risk of serious physical injury.
Publication Name: The National Law Journal
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0162-7325
Year: 1997
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