The Plea Bargaining Blog

The Sentencing Law and Policy Blog points us to this interesting Seventh Circuit case - U.S. v. Knox (7 th Cir. July 20, 2009). The case contains the following statement, "We agree with Davis that, as a general matter, a district court may consider a defendant's cooperation with the government as a basis for a reduced sentence, even if the government has not made a section 5K1.1 motion." According to Professor Berman : In the immediate wake of Booker, federal prosecutors often contested and/or complained if a district judge sought to reduce a [sentence] based on a defendant's cooperation absent a government 5K motion. In the wake of Gall and Kimbrough , I do not believe federal prosecutors still resist the notion that a district court's sentencing authority extends this far. Nevertheless, the fact that the Seventh Circuit expressly declares in this new ruling that a "defendant’s cooperation with the government as a basis for a reduced sentence" eve...

According to the NYT , Ajmal Kasab admitted in open court that he was a participant in the Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed more than 160 people. The sole surviving gunman of the deadly rampage in Mumbai unexpectedly confessed in court here on Monday, adding his voice, matter-of-fact even as he spoke of opening fire into crowds, to what may be the most well-documented terrorist attack anywhere. The gunman, Ajmal Kasab, 21, was the man in an infamous surveillance photograph, looking calm with a blue T-shirt and a machine gun. The photograph was one part of an extraordinary electronic record reviewed during the trial, which the judge ruled would go on. Other tapes showed his fellow gunmen shooting up luxury hotels. Recordings of intercepted phone calls provided a spooky, real-time narration between the handlers and the gunmen, who at times needed to be prodded into action and were stunned at the opulence of one hotel. “Everything is being recorded by the media,” one of the handlers t...