Bonnie Baker Co-Authors Article on Federal Criminal Sentencing Decision
The New York Law Journal published an article co-authored by Friedman Kaplan counsel Bonnie M. Baker and Joel Cohen of Petrillo Klein & Boxer regarding the recent decision in United States v. Tavberidze. In that case, Judge Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found Section 3E1.1 (b) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines violates the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The provision awards a Sentencing Guidelines reduction of one point pursuant to Section 3E1.1 (a) to a defendant who accepts responsibility and pleads guilty in a timely manner that spares the government the burden of preparing for trial. In the article, Bonnie and Joel analyze Judge Rakoff’s decision that this reduction imposes an unconstitutional burden on defendants who exercise their rights to proceed to trial.
The full text of the article can be found below.