Notice from March 15, 2006

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING AND MEETING OF THE UNITED STATES SENTENCING COMMISSION

March 8, 2006

Pursuant to Rules 3.2 and 3.4 of the Rules of Practice and Procedure of the United States Sentencing Commission, the following public hearing and public meeting are scheduled:

(1) Public Hearing - Wednesday, March 15, 2006, 10:00 a.m.

(2) Public Meeting - Wednesday, March 15, 2006, at 4:00 p.m.

The public hearing on March 15, 2006, will be held in the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building, One Columbus Circle, N.E., Washington, D.C., in the Federal Judicial Center Training Rooms (Classrooms A, B, & C, Concourse Level). It is expected that the public hearing will conclude at approximately 4:00 p.m.. The purpose of the public hearing is for the Commission to gather testimony from invited witnesses regarding possible changes to the sentencing guidelines.

The public meeting on March 15, 2006, will be held in the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building, One Columbus Circle, N.E., Washington, D.C. The purpose of the public meeting is for the Commission to conduct the business detailed in the following agenda:

Report of the Chair
Report of the Staff Director
Approval of Minutes from January meeting
Vote to Promulgate Emergency Amendment on Steroids
Adjourn

Public hearing and meeting materials will be available at the Commission's website (http://www.ussc.gov/meeting.htm) or from the Commission (202/502-4590).

Agenda




Opening Remarks 10:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.

Judge Ricardo H. Hinojosa
Chair, United States Sentencing Commission


Panel One — 10:15 a.m -11:15 a.m.

Hon. Robert McCallum
Associate Attorney General of the United States, U.S. Department of Justice

Richard Hertling
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General
Office of Legal Policy, U.S. Department of Justice

Jodi L. Avergun
Chief of Staff, Office of the Administrator
Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Department of Justice

Q&A

Panel Two — 11:15 a.m. -11:45 a.m.

Judge Paul Cassell
Professor of Law, University of Utah College of Law
U.S. District Court for the District of Utah

Russell P. Butler
Executive Director
Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center, Inc.

Margaret Love
Criminal Justice Section
American Bar Association

Q&A

Panel Three — 11:45 a.m. -12:30 p.m.

Susan Hackett
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)

Kent Wicker
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Reed Wicker PLLC

Q&A

Lunch — 12:30 p.m. -1:30 p.m.

Panel Four — 1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Harley G. Lappin
Director
Federal Bureau of Prisons

Q&A

Panel Five — 2:00 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.

Jon Sands
Federal Public Defender
District of Arizona

John Rhodes
Assistant Federal Public Defender
District of Montana

Kathleen M. Williams
Federal Public Defender
Southern District of Florida

Q&A

Panel Six — 2:45 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Greg Smith
Co-chair, Practitioners Advisory Group
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP

David Debold
Practitioners Advisory Group
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Cathy Battistelli
Chair, Probation Officers Advisory Group

Q&A

Adjourn

 

 

Meeting Minutes from March 15, 2006




Chair Hinojosa called the meeting to order at 4:05 PM in the Federal Judicial Center.

The following Commissioners were present:

· Judge Ricardo Hinojosa, Chair
· Judge Ruben Castillo, Vice Chair
· Judge William K. Sessions, III, Vice Chair
· John R. Steer, Vice Chair
· Michael E. Horowitz, Commissioner
· Beryl Howell, Commissioner
· Michael Elston, Commissioner Ex Officio
· Edward F. Reilly, Jr., Commissioner Ex Officio

The following staff participated in the meeting:

· Judith Sheon, Staff Director

The Chair asked for changes in the January 11, 2006, public meeting minutes to make certain sections more consistent with others and Vice Chair Steer noted some grammatical and punctuation errors. The Chair asked if there was a motion to adopt the minutes with the proposed changes. Commissioner Horowitz made a motion to adopt the minutes, with Commissioner Howell seconding the motion. Hearing no further discussion, the Chair called for a vote. The motion was adopted by a unanimous vote.

The Chair reported that the Commission’s Booker report has been released and is on the Commission’s website. He recognized the leadership of Ms. Sheon and the efforts by the staff to publish the report. The Chair noted that the Commission gave a report to the Judicial Conference regarding the Commission’s recent work. He also stated that the Commission’s training program is proceeding on schedule, and also that the 15th Annual National Seminar on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines will take place in Miami Beach, Florida, on May 31-June 2, 2006. The Chair called on Ms. Sheon for the Staff Director’s report.

Ms. Sheon reported that the Commission has received 98.4% of the sentencing documents from the courts for the 2004 fiscal year. She added that the Commission’s electronic document submission program and the efforts of the Office of Monitoring contributed greatly to the success of the Commission’s document collection process. Ms. Sheon thanked the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and the court staffs in the Southern District of California and the Western District of Texas for their help with the Commission’s recent southwest border hearings held in San Diego, CA, and San Antonio, TX. Finally, Ms. Sheon thanked the Commission staff for their exceptional efforts in the past year and noted the efforts of Ms. Kathleen Grilli and Ms. Courtney Semisch for their work on the Commission’s Booker report.

The Chair asked if there was a motion regarding the vote to promulgate an emergency amendment on steroids. Commissioner Horowitz moved to table the vote until another meeting to be scheduled before the March 27, 2006, promulgation deadline, with Vice Chair Castillo seconding the motion. Hearing no further discussion, the Chair called for a vote. The motion to table the vote was adopted by a unanimous vote.

The Chair asked if there was any further business before the Commission. Vice Chair Sessions expressed his appreciation for the leadership of Ms. Sheon and the work of the staff on the Booker report, especially noting the hard work and honesty that went into producing the report. He also cautioned readers to view the report as a whole and not to focus exclusively on isolated sections. Hearing no further discussion, the Chair called for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Vice Chair Steer made a motion to adjourn, with Vice Chair Castillo seconding the motion. The Chair submitted the motion to voice vote. The motion was adopted unanimously, and the meeting was adjourned at 4:20 PM.