Court rejects mandatory sentencing rules / MSNBC, 12 Jan 2005

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6816943/
"A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that federal judges no longer have to abide by controversial 18-year-old mandatory sentencing guidelines, saying that the consideration of factors not presented to jurors violates a defendant?s right to a fair trial.
advertisement

The ruling was a blow for the Justice Department, which had defended the constitutionality of the federal sentencing guidelines that now apply to about 64,000 criminal defendants each year. "