A Morning At Federal Court
photo by Danielle Corbisiero
Guest post by Cecilia Anguiano, rising 3L at Lewis & Clark Law School.
The United States District Court for the Southern District of California is one of the busiest courts in the entire country. The court’s shared border with Mexico means the majority of the criminal cases are for drug and human trafficking. In total, around two-thirds of cases before this court are criminal.
On Friday, the Honorable Janis L. Sammartino’s courtroom had only a few attorneys present, “probably because we are going into Memorial Day weekend,” she stated.
The first person for sentencing this morning was a 19 year old legal permanent resident who pled guilty to smuggling several people in a car. He explained that it was a lapse in judgment after drinking at a bar. He thought he could make fast money since he had a baby girl on the way.
Judge Sammartino used sentencing guidelines to advise her and, as she put it, “for equity and sufficiency purposes, as well as to avoid sentencing disparities.” The guidelines work as a point system in which the criminal history of the defendant as well as the severity of the crime point to a recommended sentence. Judge Sammartino noted the guidelines help her make sentencing decisions because she was not a career prosecutor before coming to the bench. The Guidelines used to be mandatory where they would limit the judge in considering factors specific to the case.
The 19 year old fell into a criminal category 1 and offense level 13 which recommended an 12-18 months sentence. Judge Sammartino used her discretion and considered the fact that he readily accepted responsibility, worked quickly with the prosecution through Fast-Track and didn’t have any previous criminal history which resulted in lowering his offense level.
Judge Sammartino sentenced him to 12 months and one day making him deportable. His one mistake will now cost him his life here in the United States and a strain on his relationship with his newborn that he has yet to see.
His story draws on the importance of LPRs pursuing their citizenship status. One mistake could mean derailment of every aspect of a person’s life.
-posted by KitJ on behalf of Cecilia Anguiano