Showing posts with label Clemency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clemency. Show all posts

Ninth Circuit: US v Buenrostro

As a Presidential commutation is simply a mitigation of punishment, it does not set aside the initial judicial sentence, and therefore does not establish separate grounds for a habeas petition; a petition is therefore considered a second or successive challenge to the initial judicial sentence.  Similarly, the commutation cannot shift the sentence from one based on a statutory minimum to one based on a gudelines range,  making the sentence susceptible to a challenge based on a subsequent revision of the guidelines.

http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2018/07/13/16-10499.pdf