Practice Areas

Blog

Legal News

Library

Virginia Federal Court Judges Give Harsh Sentences to Distributors of Cocaine and Crack

Two brothers were sentenced in U. S. District Court in Richmond, Virginia for their roles in a drug distribution operation that moved large amounts of crack cocaine from New York City to Richmond. The elder brother was described as the leader of the operation. For his role, he received a life sentence. His younger brother, described in newspaper reports as having a lesser role in the operation, received a prison sentence of 40 years.

Hours after the story appeared in the Richmond Times Dispatch website, reader comments were posted. Some expressed their anger at the harshness of the sentences. Why, one asked, can you get life in prison for selling drugs, but not for killing someone? That is a good question, but the answer is a simple one, really.

In response to what many in and out of the legal community perceived as racial discrimination in sentencing those convicted of federal crimes, the federal government created the United States Sentencing Commission (USSG), whose purpose was to investigate and make recommendations to level the playing field so that a person convicted of a specific crime would be punished as any other person convicted of committing that crime.

The federal sentencing guidelines use a somewhat complex formula to establish a base term of months as punishment for the crimes it covers, and those base level figures can either be reduced or increased depending on the particular circumstances of a particular case, and the prior criminal record of the person convicted. In drug cases, the nature of the drugs, and the amount the person is convicted of, factor heavily in the sentencing formula.

Although the United States Supreme Court has in the past three years issued decisions that have made clear to the sentencing judges that the sentencing guidelines are not mandatory, but merely advisory, the federal judges are still referring to them for guidance in trying to ascertain what is a fair sentence for a particular crime. That is what likely occurred in this case since the amounts of crack cocaine attributed to the operation was said to be over 150 Kilograms, which is on the very high end of the sentencing range in drug distribution cases.

Sign up for our
Email Newsletter

Free Reports

Free Case Evaluation

FAQs