Civil libertarians seek high court review of Antwuan Ball's harsh drug sentence

Last edited Mon Jul 7, 2014, 01:26 PM - Edit history (1)

Yes, this is from the Washington Times. Look: it's a newspaper. It's not 100 percent "all Benghazi, all the time." Okay, you do have to wade through a lot of crazy to find the objective stuff. But when they get one right, give them credit for the story.

And, admit it: the Washington Post is just plain wrong when it claims that Mercury is not visible to the naked eye, so accordingly there's no need to publish its rising and setting times. The New York Times leaves them out too, but not the Washington Times.

Antwuan Ball’s harsh drug sentence spurs petition to Supreme Court

By Jim McElhatton - The Washington Times Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Two prominent civil libertarian groups have filed a joint petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case of a D.C. man serving nearly 19 years in prison after his conviction on a $600 drug deal, citing concerns about “carte blanche” powers given to federal judges.

The amicus brief by the Cato and Rutherford institutes comes as the Justice Department faces a July 28 deadline to file its brief in the appeals case of Antwuan Ball and two others convicted of drug charges in a federal trial in the District in 2008.

Attorneys for all three men — Ball, Desmond Thurston and Joseph Jones — accuse the trial judge of overreach by finding facts at sentencing that jurors expressly rejected in their verdict. ... Sentencing judges are permitted to take into account charged conduct against defendants that jurors rejected or never considered at trial. But the appeals lawyers say all three defendants received “unreasonably lengthy” sentences based on charges that jurors rejected and that the judge accepted.

Ball was acquitted of murder, racketeering, conspiracy and other felonies, but he was found guilty of a lone hand-to-hand drug deal. At Ball’s sentencing, however, U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts said he felt the evidence showed Ball belonged to a conspiracy — a key finding that led to a much longer sentence than what Ball would have faced otherwise. ... “Sentencing then becomes the real trial, with the judge being given carte blanche to engage as fact finder,” the civil liberties groups wrote. “This is constitutionally improper.”
....

Jim McElhatton is an investigative reporter for The Washington Times. He can be reached at jmcelhatton@washingtontimes.com.