‘COMPASSIONATE’ | Judge Jackson Dropped Drug Kingpin’s 20-Year Sentence
Judge
Jackson allows her personal policy beliefs to inform her judgment in the
courtroom.
Judge Jackson MISUSED a motion for compassionate release to SIDESTEP the mandatory minimum she had to impose on a drug kingpin
just two years earlier. (United
States v. Young No. 17-cr-0083 (D.D.C.))
- Unhappy with the government’s guidance to increase the defendant’s sentencing time by using prior convictions, Judge Jackson took matters into her own hands
- She noted that the defendant enjoyed “being treated as a kingpin and big boy” and stated that she was “sorry, mostly because I believe in second chances and because a person with your characteristics and family support would have had a real shot at turning your life around.”
- Judge Jackson REDUCED the defendant’s sentence from 20 years to 12 years under “compassionate release”
- The government argued AGAINST her ruling, explaining that it was nonsensical because in order to grant a compassionate release, a court must find that “the defendant is not a danger to the safety of any other person or to the community.”
