I'm feeling a little snarky today after the commutation of Scooter Libby's 30-month sentence. As Orin Kerr points out, President Bush has never used the commutation or pardon power to shorten anyone's sentence in the last 6 years. (I would also bet we could add his years as Governor of Texas to that sentence, but that require some actual research on my part.) And, as Doug Berman points out, President Bush and the Bush Administration has defended the reasonableness of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. But in this case, there must be an exception -- but one that won't help anyone else out there.
So, if you were President for a day, whose sentence would you commute (or whose conviction would you pardon)? Here's my list, which I may add to if I think of others. (UPDATE: After starting this post, I notice Doug Berman also has a list of cases similar to Libby's that would be equally deserving of commutation.)
1. That guy in Georgia in jail for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. Genarlow Wilson has served more than 2 years of a 10-year sentence for aggravated child molestation. Bizarrely, under Georgia law at the time, if Mr. Wilson and the girl had engaged in intercourse, he would have been guilty of merely a misdemanor. Since his sentence, this law has been changed to establish a maximum sentence of one year (a misdemeanor) for consensual oral sex as well, but the law was not applied retroactively. A Superior Court judge has overturned his sentence, but the Georgia AG is appealing and Mr. Wilson was not released on bail pending this appeal. Eugene Volokh has blogged about this case here.
2. Jamie Olis. This Dynegy employee decided to take his chances at trial and wound up being sentenced to 24 years even though his cooperating supervisors received minimal sentences. His sentence was eventually reduced to 6 years, but that sentence does not even seem to match his culpability. We also know now that his employers were persuaded to not fund his legal defense by the prosecutors. Olis' attorneys may be made whole by litigation on this point, but Olis will not be.
3. Dr. William Hurwitz. The news has been a flurry recently covering trials of doctors who are criminally convicted for overprescribing pain medication. Although errors of medical judgment are usually the subject of civil malpractice suits, federal drug laws have created an environment of federal prosecutions and lengthy prison sentences. The trial of Dr. Hurwitz, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison, is the subject of a NYT article today, and Dr. Ronald McIver was the subject of this NYT magazine article a few weeks ago.
4. Throw a little love to visitors to our country held here pending prosecution in the "Natwest Three" cases and in online gambling cases. I've blogged about these cases here, here and here.
I'm sure readers can think of others.
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1. Posted by Mike Goad on July 3, 2007 @ 8:07 | Permalink
Of course, Bush would use his executive power first to commute the sentence of someone from his own administration. It shouldn't be a surprise, I guess, but it is. It would be even be more of a surprise if he were to exhibit presidential compassion and actually commute the sentence or pardon someone who honestly deserves it.
2. Posted by Jake on July 3, 2007 @ 18:17 | Permalink
What nonsense. Fitzgerald doggedly continued to run, and thus abuse the employment of, a federal grand jury long after he knew that Armitage at State was the true leak on Plame.
The true irony is that President Bush, after taking office in early 2001, made it known that the crimes of the Clinton Administration were history, and that he would not make it a point to further pursue those matters. And President Bush kept his word. There has been no prosecution of Bill Clinton for perjury. There has been no opening of files that would shed light on Janet Reno's administration of the Justice Department. Oddly, Sandy Berger got off for felonious misconduct after the change in administrations. All things considered, the Bush Administration has been a model of behavior in terms of not abusing high public office to punish one's ideological, political, or personal foes.
The Democrats, however, are of another stripe. Frustrated at their inability to control the Federal government, and the lives of American citizens at large, in pursuit of Leninist policies, the current Congressional leadership vindictively strikes out blindly on any path that might cause injury to the White House, all because they have no clue whatsoever what it takes to lead a Nation.
How utterly pathetic.
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