Unanimous Decision By Sentencing Commission Prohibits Use of Acquitted Conduct to Increase Sentences

The U.S. Sentencing Commission voted on Wednesday to restrict the practice of considering acquitted conduct in federal sentencing, while floating the possibility of applying the change retroactively. The vote follows calls by members of Congress and defense lawyers to do away with the practice which critics considered unjust.

While the commission was divided on whether to consider enforcing the limitation on acquitted conduct sentencing retroactively, the seven-member commission, led by commission chaired by U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves of the Southern District of Mississippi, voted unanimously to block judges from using acquitted conduct to increase the sentences of defendants who received mixed verdicts in trial.

The amendment to advisory federal sentencing guidelines takes effect November 1 and prohibits judges from considering conduct for which a defendant was acquitted in federal court as relevant conduct to be factored into sentencing.

The U.S. Department of Justice opposed barring the practice, citing the potential for inconsistent or split verdicts or acquittals on technical grounds. The DOJ further stated that an acquittal did not mean someone was innocent, just that there was reasonable doubt as to their guilt, and an amendment “could result in sentences that fail to account for a criminal defendant’s full range of conduct.”

But U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves, a federal judge from Mississippi in a statement on Wednesday said: “Not guilty means not guilty.”