"When Acquitted Doesn't Mean Acquitted"

The title of this posts is the title of this long piece at ABC News on one of my favorite modern sentencing litigation topics. The full title of the piece is "When Acquitted Doesn't Mean Acquitted: Judges Can Sentence Criminals to Longer Prison Terms Even After a Jury Has Acquitted Them," and here is an excerpt from the article discussing a few recent cases that regular readers of this blog know well:

The Supreme Court has called the right to a jury trial one of the foundations of American law. But at same time, the Court has given judges broad discretion in meting out sentences under the now-advisory federal sentencing guidelines, allowing them to consider conduct that the jury never considered or found a defendant not guilty of committing.

The issue has come up in several recent cases around the country. Earlier this year, in the case of a Madison, Wis., man who was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison for possession of crack cocaine, the Supreme Court declined to reconsider its Watts decision.  Mark Hurn was convicted of possessing powder cocaine, which would have sent him to prison for about three years, according to federal sentencing guidelines, but acquitted of crack cocaine possession. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

In Washington, D.C., federal prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence Antwuan Ball to the 40-year statutory maximum prison sentence for selling 11 grams of cocaine, though Ball was acquitted of every other count in a massive drug and murder conspiracy trial that lasted eight months.  Ball's lawyer says Ball should be sentenced to about six years in prison under the sentencing guidelines for the drug charge.

Some related posts on acquitted conduct sentencing enhancements:

• Practitioner’s Note: Acquitted Conduct in the News (Again)
• Extended examination of ugliness of acquitted conduct enhancement
• Strong commentary on acquitted conduct sentencing
• DC Circuit affirms (but questions fairness of) acquitted conduct enhancement
• Sincere questions about acquitted conduct sentencing
• Amicus brief in Sixth Circuit acquitted conduct case focused on statutory issues
• The friendly themes to be stressed in Sixth Circuit acquitted conduct case