8th Circuit Court Setting Own Sentencing Guidelines?
After last year’s Supreme Court decision, US v. Booker, trial judges are supposed to be allowed a bit more leeway when sentencing. But the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals appeared to have other ideas when it overturned an 11-year prison sentence for repeat offender, Jeffrey McDonald, in a meth case, saying the lock-up time was far too short The recommended sentence was 22 to 27 years. But the minimum was 10, which McDonald’s sentence exceeded.
Dissenting Judge Kermit Bye pointed out that, since Booker, the 8th had reversed 25 sentences below the recommended range, while reversing only one that went above the range, writes PAMELA MCCLEAN for Law.com.