Federal Appeals Lawyer Stephen N. Preziosi’s Latest U.S.S.G. Awareness Campaign Installment Looks at Greenlaw v. United States,128 S. Ct. 2559
New York, New York (PRWEB) July 03, 2013 -- Stephen N. Preziosi, a Federal appeals lawyer whose practice is based in New York City’s Times Square, is focusing on Greenlaw v. United States,128 S. Ct. 2559 in the latest installment of his ongoing look at key cases that have influenced and defined United States Sentencing Guidelines (U.S.S.G).
This is the 22nd installment in Mr. Preziosi’s awareness campaign, and highlights the Supreme Court’s holding that a defendant’s sentence should not be increased by the Court of Appeals, unless it’s per a government appeal or cross-appeal.
In the case, the petitioner Greenlaw was convicted of multiple drug and firearms offenses, and subsequently sentenced to 442 months in prison. He appealed the sentence chiefly on the basis that it was unreasonably long.
The Court of Appeals rejected the appeal, but instead of affirming the District Court’s sentence, it increased it to 622 months on the basis that the District Judge committed a ‘plain error’ by applying a 10-year mandatory sentence to a count that ought to have triggered a 25-year mandatory sentence. Notably, this increase was made unilaterally by the court, and not in response to a request from the government.
Greenlaw appealed to the Supreme Court, which in a 7-2 majority decision held that the District Court could not increase a defendant’s sentence without a request from the government.
“The Eight Circuit Court of Appeals derived its authority to unilaterally increase Greenlaw’s sentence from the `plain-error’ rule,” commented Federal appeals lawyer Stephen N. Preziosi. “However, this viewpoint was soundly rejected in the Supreme Court’s lead opinion, which affirmed the fact that in our adversarial system the parties make submissions, and the courts evaluate those submissions. To allow courts to make and then evaluate their own submissions would unfairly dissuade defendants from appealing their sentence, for fear that their sentence may be increased -- but without being informed of that possibility prior to filing their appeal.”
Mr. Preziosi’s full analysis of Greenlaw v. United States,128 S. Ct. 2559 is available on his firm’s website at http://www.newyorkappellatelawyer.com/appeals-court-may-not-increase-federal-sentence-unless-government-appeals/
For more information or media inquiries, email newyorkappellatelawyer(at)gmail(dot)com or phone (212) 300-3845.
About the Appellate Law Office of Stephen N. Preziosi, P.C.
Federal appeals lawyer Stephen N. Preziosi handles criminal appeals in all U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals and in New York State Appellate Courts (including Appellate Divisions and the New York Court of Appeals). Whether a case is under the Penal Law in New York State Courts or under Federal Law in the U.S. District Courts, Mr. Preziosi has extensive experience with all types of appellate matters in both the New York State Courts and the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal. Mr. Preziosi has pursued appellate cases in the Appellate Divisions, the Appellate
Terms and the highest court in the State of New York, the New York Court of Appeals. He has also taken on cases in the various U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, and successfully identified legal issues, designed and written briefs and conducted oral argument. The firm’s practice is concentrated in the area of appeals in criminal matters in both State and Federal Courts, and Mr. Preziosi recently launched a United States Sentencing Guidelines (USSG) awareness campaign to help the general public learn more about this critically important and influential aspect of criminal law.
Learn more at http://www.newyorkappellatelawyer.com.
Stephen Preziosi, Law Office of Stephen Preziosi, http://www.newyorkappellatelawyer.com/, (212) 300-3845, [email protected]
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