Page 2 - Singular Case News Today

Abby philip is with us. so jeffrey, what is your reaction to this exchange. republican senator hawleys comments. >> this was extraordinary. you have a judge who has been on the bench for ten years almost. and we had the entire half-hour of senator hawleys question about a single case where he got to recite the grisly details of, and say pedophilia over and over again. this is about appealing to the qanon audience this cult that is a big presence in republican party politics now, that is, where s...

That judges are doing the work of assessing in each case a number of factors that are set forward by congress. all against the back drop of heinous criminal behavior. but the guidelines are no longer mandatory. congress has not corrected, as you would say, the supreme courts determination of that. justice scalias decision that the guidelines are not mandatory. congress has not said that. and congress has given judges factors to consider. this in my view was an unusual case that had a number of f...

Record but it was there. i described the videos that we have. you say earlier in the case, you talk about how heinous these crime are. and you described how heinous it is, to your credit. and yet here you are giving him three months and apologizing to him and saying you feel sorry for the anguish it caused him and saying you think sex offenders are truly shunled in our society. so talk about that. help me understand. is he a victim? is that what you men? >> senator, i again dont have the entire ...

He presented all of his diplomas and certificates and the things that he had done, and argued consistent with what i was seeing in the record, that this particular defendant had gotten into this in a way that was, inconsistent what i saw. part of what a judge is doing as required by congress, is thinking about this case, thinking about unwarranted sentencing disparities. thats in the statute. other cases, other determinations that a judge may have made about this. i dont remember in detail this ...

Evaluation of cases. in every case consistent with congresss requirements, the probation office prepares a pre sentence report in which they review all of the statutory factors concerning sentencing. congress has a statute for sentencing. it requires judges to consider the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history and characteristics of the defendant, the need for the sentence imposed to promote various purposes of punishment. there are many purposes listed in the statute. and the pro...

Disregard the number of images. that the number can be appropriate and in this case, the defendant has amassed an extremely large collection of child pornography. you disregarded that. you told the defendant. you said this. this seems to be a case where you were fascinated by sexual images involving essentially your peers. and then you went on to say, the defendant was merely trying to satisfy his curiosity. curiosity is your word. one more thing on this same idea. this is you to the defendant. ...

What you said as early as law school. senator blumenthal was just talking about it. there you say, and im quoting you now. in the current climate. fear, hatred and revenge associated with the release of convicted sex criminals, courts must be especially attentive to legislative enactments regarding these sex criminals. like this act, the protect act that congress enacted. so i want to understand here. is it your view that society is too hard on sex offenders? you say they are truly shunned in so...

Them in either a different way than my peers, or a different way than other cases. and i assure you that i do not. if you were to look at the greater body not only may more than 100 sentences, but also, the sentences of other judges in my district and nationwide, you would see a very similar exercise of attempting to do what it is that judges do. attempting to take into account all of the relevant factors, and do justice individually in each case. >> lets keep talking about there case. you also ...

Werent -- you were only going to give him three months. because he was not a pedophile. and then you said, and this is something i really need your help understanding. then you apologized to him. and i have to tell you, i cant quite figure this out. you said to him, this is a truly difficult situation. i appreciate that your family is in the audience. i feel so sorry for them and for you and for the anguish this has caused all of you. i feel terrible about the collateral consequences of this con...

Scent pornography, were talking about gobs of hours of time here that he has. and you say to him, well, it was just a collection. he was just viewing it. essentially, they were his peers. you say to him that hes not a pedophile. i dont know how you know that. i dont know why thats relevant to the guidelines. you say hes not a pedophile. you say that youre very sorry for him and what he suffered and then you give him three months. when frankly, a liberal prosecutor is asking for two full years. i...