David Boaz has some suggestions.
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Sentences Worth Commuting
03 Jul 2007 11:24 am
Comments (11)
Yeah, but the President's pardon/commutation power only extends to federal offenses.
Yeah, but the President's pardon/commutation power only extends to federal offenses.
whoops - forgot about that.
Why do you guys keep on hoping against hope that the Bushistas and the Republicans are rational and logically consistent, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary?
Pardon Lummie Sanders! Last year, I wrote to Bush's office of clemency about Lummie Sanders. The district court sentenced him to 37 months for violating a gun law. The government appealed the sentence, and eventually the Sixth Circuit reversed and imposed a 180 month sentence. By that time, however, Mr. Sanders had been released for six years and made major efforts to put his life back together. He had to go back to jail for 12 more years. This case led to the most passionate dissent I have ever read. Judge Boyce Martin (my hero) ended his dissent as follows:
"When I think about this case, as I have done so often as of late, it makes me sick to my stomach. To imagine the emotional and psychological turmoil Mr. Sanders has been forced to endure as a result of the government's action and inaction in this case shocks and angers me to no end. Sanders woke up every day for six years believing that he was a free man. That's 2,190 mornings. And, in this case, it appears that Lummie Sanders used each of those days to make something out of his life. I cannot imagine any more settled expectations than those. I would order Sanders released from prison immediately. If we as a federal court cannot remedy the truly fundamentally unfair result that exists here, I don't know what good we are. And the law, well, if the law truly requires Lummie Sanders to go back to prison--the law is a ass."
U.S. v. Sanders, 452 F.3d 572, 593 (6th Cir. 2006).
Is Leonard Peltier still in prison? Railroaded convictions ought to be high on Bush's list, yes?
What, no one's going to say "Free Mumia!"? I guess that one's kinda passe by now.
Free Mumia!*
*(while supplies last)
Bush should definitely commute the jail sentence Sandy Berger received for stealing national security documents from the national archive. Oh wait...
Christ, the Berger Trolls are just as insipid as the Marc Rich ones. I guess Libby's crime is, by definition, equivalent to any person's who had anything whatsoever to do with Clinton, huh? The obsession with the Clenis...it still amazes.
Just for the benefit of mindless fucks like Dave, the difference -- one difference among many -- here is that Sandy Berger actually admitted his guilt, and he pled guilty in a plea bargain to a misdemeanor. The sentence he got -- probation and a $50k fine, plus 3 years' loss of security clearance -- was actually higher than what the Bush DOJ recommended.
One of the Democratic Chairman should subpeona Scooter Libby to testify before Congress on whether there were any quid pro quos discussed between Libby and the White House re Libby keeping silent in exchange for the commutation.
Let the WHite House argue "Executive Privilege" on that and let the Republican Supreme Court uphold him. Then introduce articles of impeachment into the House and get every damm Republican Congressman on record as voting against the impeachment.
If the Democrats are too stupid to realize that they need to clearly show the voters the interlocking circles of deep corruption within the Republican Party -- show that a Member of Congress deserves to be thrown out of office simply BECAUSE HE IS A REPUBLICAN -- then the Democrats deserve to lose.
Being deeply stupid is as bad as being corrupt.
Comments closed July 17, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
I think he missed the most egregious one - the kid in Georgia who was sentenced to 10 years for getting a BJ. He's still in jail, right?
Posted by Rob | July 3, 2007 11:47 AM