Former DA on Mission to Eliminate Closed-Door Sentencing Review Panels
Bolstered by support from the legislature, prosecutors in Georgia are mounting a full assault against the state’s system of judicial review panels that, in some cases, reduced prison terms.
The challenge, which is being reviewed by the state supreme court today, could impact dozens of inmates whose sentences have already been reduced by the closed-door panels, the Associated Press reports.
Front and center in the challenge is former District Attorney J. Brown Moseley, who was moved to act after a panel of three judges reduced the manslaughter sentence of Sandra Widner from 15 to eight years. Sentence Review Panel, et al. v. Moseley, S08A6067
Moseley, who accepted a plea deal in the case to spare the victim’s family from a trial, says Widner should be in prison “every day she’s supposed to be there.”
In August 2007, a trial court agreed with Moseley, finding the panels unconstitutional because they, “diminished the authority of the superior courts to impose a lawful felony sentence.” Widner’s 15-year sentence was reinstated, according to a Georgia Supreme Court case summary.
But defenders of the panels, which were formed as a means to create sentencing uniformity, say that the judicial reviews should remain constitutional. Defenders consider them tools to combat harsh or unjustified sentences, the AP notes. The news agency notes that about 3 percent of the 1,000 sentences reviewed each year are reduced.
Hat tip Criminal Justice Journalists.
