2nd U.S. Circuit Court upholds "gut feeling" sentence

In March 2005, U.S. District Court judge for the western district of New York, David Larimer found Eric Jones guilty of possession of marijuana, and the possession of a firearm by a felon, and sentenced him to 15 months, concurrently, on the two charges based on his “gut feeling” about the defendant.

Larimer at the time “candidly acknowledged part of his thinking was not explainable..”

The Government didn’t feel the sentence or Larimer’s explanation were adequate, and appealed the case the first part of this year.

Chief Judge John Walker dissented from the 2nd. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision last Wednesday, but it was held that Larimer’s oral statement of reasons for the sentence was adequate and the sentence reasonable, but that “the failure to include those reasons for sentencing in the judgment violated 18 USC § 3553 (c)(2) and requires correction..”

(Article)