Yesterday brought perhaps the first sign that a more measured approach to sentencing in white collar criminal cases may be in the offing since the current trend of criminalizing questionable business transactions began with the meltdown of Enron in late 2001.
In this order, U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein declared moot the jury findings from the makeshift sentencing hearing that the court held in the Enron-related criminal case known as the Nigerian Barge case last year pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Booker. As noted in that latter post, the Supreme Court in Booker in late 2004 set aside the mandatory provisions of the federal sentencing guidelines after the Nigerian Barge jury sentencing hearing had been conducted.
In his order, Judge Werlein concluded that, in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Booker, the sentencing jury finding that the Nigerian Barge transaction cost Enron investors $13.7 million is not binding on the court. Judge Werlein is scheduled to sentence the five defendants that were convicted in the Nigerian Barge case in March.
Judge Werlein is one of the fairest and most gracious men on the federal bench. Accordingly, I am hopeful that Judge Werlein will take the bold step of reversing an ugly trend in the U.S. criminal justice system that has resulted in injustices such as this.