Pacoima : Protesting Judge Again Delays Sentencing

U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter granted another delay in the sentencing of a Pacoima crack dealer Monday, continuing a protest against federal sentencing laws that he has claimed nullify judicial discretion.

Hatter, a vocal critic of federal laws that set required prison terms for some defendants, has delayed sentencing Bobbie Marshall to 9 years in prison since he was convicted in 1990 of possessing 53 grams of crack cocaine.

“I refuse to be part of what I believe to be an injustice,” Hatter said in court Monday. “The White House can play its political games and Congress can play its game, and the U.S. attorney’s office can do what it feels necessary . . . but I cannot do so in good conscience.”

Marshall’s record includes three previous drug convictions. Some civic leaders in the northeast San Fernando Valley have campaigned on Marshall’s behalf, citing his help keeping peace during the 1992 riots and counseling schoolchildren.

Marshall’s list of supporters includes U.S. Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City) and Yvonne Chan, principal of the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima, an elementary school.

Hatter--who has also expressed admiration for Marshall due in part to his community work and sobriety since his 1989 arrest--has repeatedly delayed sentencing. Hatter has said that a 9-year sentence is too severe.

Federal prosecutors could not reduce the sentence even if they wanted to because of federal sentencing guidelines, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. The guidelines were approved by Congress in the 1980s in an attempt to impose similar sentences on defendants convicted of similar crimes.

Some federal judges, however, have complained that the guidelines remove their discretion and don’t take character and rehabilitation into account.

In 1994, Hatter tried to sentence Marshall to a 4 1/2-year term, but an appeals court overturned it, ruling that the sentence violated federal law.

On Monday, both Hatter and Marshall’s attorney, Denise Meyer, asked a federal prosecutor whether the U.S. attorney’s office was willing to reduce the 9-year sentence.

“I’m afraid there is no room for [that],” responded Rick Drooyan, chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office. “We respectfully request that you go ahead with sentencing.”

Hatter declined. He gave Meyer until July 8 to weigh her options, which include seeking a trial for Marshall or having Hatter give the case to another federal judge--in which case the 9-year sentence would almost certainly be imposed.