« Judge Presnell speaks on 5K after Booker | Main | Another amazing sentencing week! »
March 18, 2005
Rowland gets a year and a day
The AP report here that former Connecticut Governor John Rowland, who in December pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to steal honest service, received a sentence today of one year plus one day in prison. (The extra day, because it makes Rowland eligible for good-time credit, actually make the sentence more lenient than if it was just one year.) As discussed in this prior post, Rowland's guideline range was 15-21 months, and thus Judge Peter Dorsey must have granted either a downward departure or a Booker variance.
Thanks to the Hartford Courant, I now have found links the to sentencing memoranda filed in the case. The defense memo, available here, simply asked for a sentence below 15-21 months, and the prosecutors' memo, available here, requested a sentence of between 30-37 months. Though I suspect the Rowland was hoping to avoid any prison time, the final outcome suggests Rowland's sentence ought to be counted as a post-Booker win for the defense.
Continuing his fine coverage of major Connecticut law stories, the blog Kirby's Reports has a lot more information and links on the Rowland story.
March 18, 2005 at 04:22 PM | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451574769e200d8343de66153ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Rowland gets a year and a day:
Comments
The sentence is a creative implementation of the low end of the agreed range. Year and a day federal sentence gets you 48 days off for good conduct, putting deft in Bureau of Prisons custody for about 10-1/2 months (of which the last 10%, i.e., 32 days, can be spent in a halfway house). Then he goes to home detention for the first four months of his 3 yrs supervised release. That puts him in custody (prison, plus halfway house, plus home confinement) for a total of about 15 months, as promised. It deviates from a strict application of the Guidelines, but it fulfills the spirit, at least, of the agreement.
Posted by: Peter G | Mar 18, 2005 9:16:25 PM
Peter:
I'm not sure you're right that he serves the first four months of supervised release in a halfway house. In my experience, the average of two to four months is taken off the year and a day prison sentence first, leaving a prison sentence of about ten months. 15% of that leaves about 8.5 months actually served.
So, I think it was below the plea agreement.
Alex Eisemann
Posted by: Alex E. | Mar 22, 2005 10:22:48 AM
Sorry, posted that when I meant only to preview. When I actually took a moment to read the AP story, I see that the judge imposed not only a year and a day but specifically added four months' home confinement. So, I agree with your analysis.
Posted by: Alex E. | Mar 22, 2005 10:27:57 AM
I was wondering if you could tell me how the day added to a sentence is justified. My husband recieved 6years and a day, does that mean he has to do day for day the 6 years or will he get good time as well?
Posted by: Wendy | Jun 17, 2005 2:16:19 PM
Posted by: | Oct 14, 2008 8:36:12 AM
