Courts and Law Brooklyn Boro

Judge Weinstein follows his own advice on harsh sentencing

July 19, 2018 By Rob Abruzzese, Legal Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Hon. Jack Weinstein, who sits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York located in Downtown Brooklyn, has followed his own advice against punishing defendants with too much supervised release. Eagle file photo by Rob Abruzzese
Hon. Jack Weinstein, who sits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York located in Downtown Brooklyn, has followed his own advice against punishing defendants with too much supervised release. Eagle file photo by Rob Abruzzese
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Just two weeks after Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Jack Weinstein issued a decision denouncing extended periods of supervised released as unnecessary, the judge has issued a ruling on another case where he backed up his tough talk.

Following a recent sentencing hearing, Judge Weinstein issued an opinion on Wednesday that explained why defendant Sammy Smith’s sentence would be just two months in prison and another six months of supervised release.

Federal sentencing guidelines suggested 51-63 months in prison and one to three years of supervised release. The judge explained that if he had followed those guidelines that there would be unintended consequences.

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“The sentence balances the serious nature of the crime, requiring a term of incarceration, and the compelling need for the defendant to take his child to and from school and to guide the boy,” Judge Weinstein wrote. “He will be released from prison about the time that his son begins school for the year. He has enough assets to pay rent for two months so he can hold onto his apartment while he is incarcerated. There is good reason to believe that he can be promptly reemployed with the help of probation. More than six-months of supervised release might be counterproductive.”

A previous opinion issued by Judge Weinstein criticized the need for overly punitive periods of supervised release. He was even critical of some of his own past decisions.

“I, like other trial judges, have in many cases imposed longer periods of supervised release than needed, and I, like other trial judges, have failed to terminate supervised release early in many cases where continuing supervision presents such a burden as to reduce the probability of rehabilitation,” Weinstein wrote in an opinion issued earlier this month.

Smith, a naturalized U.S. citizen who had no prior criminal record, had boarded a plan at John F. Kennedy Airport on June 3, 2016 bound for Turkey with handgun parts in his luggage. The government seized the parts and told him a license was required for their export. He was arrested for violating the Arms Export Control Act.

In his opinion, Judge Weinstein acknowledged that part of the motivation for trying to smuggle the gun out of the country was to sell to support his cocaine addiction. He then pointed out that despite the fact that he Smith failed two rehabilitation attempts, Smith has seemingly cleaned up his act and has gone at least a year without using cocaine. Weinstein did warn him that he must stay clean.

“Stay out of trouble and stay away from all drugs because your mind gets clouded and you can’t make intelligent decisions, and if you continue with narcotics you can … go to prison,” said Weinstein.


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