Tanner reversed again

[Anne Fibian]

Posted by FoM on July 07, 1999 at 11:24:55 PT

Source: SF Gate

SAN FRANCISCO
An appeals court has struck down a federal sentencing guideline and
ordered a reduction in a
Washington man's 6 1/2-year sentence for illegal gun possession by a
felon.

The guideline under which a federal judge sentenced Albert Leo Palmer
conflicted with the federal law on gun
sentences, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday.

That law increases a gun possession sentence if a felon's previous crime
was for violence or drugs, but not if the
state has either granted a pardon or restored the felon's civil rights.
Restoration of rights, including the right to
own guns, is a procedure used by many states after a felon successfully
completes parole.

Palmer pleaded guilty to concealing his criminal record and giving other
false information when he bought a
rifle from a licensed dealer in Tacoma, Wash. in October 1976.

U.S. District Judge Jack Tanner sentenced him to more than twice the
sentence originally recommended by
prosecutors, based in part on the fact that one of his past crimes was a
1989 conviction for possessing
marijuana with the intent to distribute.

But the appeals court said the state of Washington had later restored
Palmer's civil rights for that conviction.
Although the U.S. Sentencing Commission's guidelines would allow the
conviction to be used to increase the
sentence, the guidelines conflict with the underlying law, said Judge
Sidney Thomas in the 3-0 ruling.

The court also said Tanner had wrongly found Palmer responsible for
owning a number of guns that actually
belonged to his son, another basis for an increased sentence. The net
effect is that his new sentence will be no
more than 18 months, a period he has already served, said Assistant
Federal Public Defender Peter Offenbecher.

The case is U.S. vs. Palmer, 98-30181.
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