On a recent episode of the Bloomberg Law podcast, Judge Paul W. Grimm (ret.), director of the Bolch Judicial Institute of Duke Law, explains the procedural and substantive factors judges must weigh when determining a sentence. The discussion followed U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Boardman’s decision to sentence the would-be assassin of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to eight years in prison — a departure from the federal sentencing guidelines.
“There’s just a lot of moving pieces to a sentencing in any case in federal court, but particularly for something like this, there was a significant disagreement between what the defense said was an appropriate sentence and what the government was asking for,” Grimm says on the podcast episode. “The fact that [Judge Boardman] took the time that she did suggests to me that she did each and every one of the things that she was required to do.”
Listen to the full podcast episode via Bloomberg Law.