Word: brinkema
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...Leonie M. Brinkema, appointed to the district court in Eastern Virginia by President Clinton in 1993, has had her share of reversals by the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. But many of them have come on sentencing issues, where the former federal prosecutor has shown an independent streak and has at times departed from the federal sentencing guidelines -- to the defendant's advantage in some cases and detriment in others...
...Moussaoui conspiracy trial, with four counts that carry the death penalty, will be the highest-profile case Brinkema has ever overseen, with accompanying concerns about the safety of some participants, managing media access and the likely need to keep certain evidence out of the public eye. But most lawyers who have dealt with Brinkema think she'll handle the potential spectacle well...
...Defense lawyers rose to Brinkema's defense when former Sen. Robert Dole, during his 1996 presidential campaign, labeled Brinkema and several other federal judges "soft on crime" at a time when Republicans were attacking individual judges for rulings they felt were too lenient. Dole focused on a case in which Brinkema reduced the sentence of a man she convicted for plotting to kill a former martial arts instructor. She rejected his insanity defense, but cited his diminished mental capacity in sentencing him to 21 months in prison rather than up to 9 years. The appeals court overturned the sentence...
...another case, Brinkema sentenced a man convicted of fraud for improperly collecting disability pay to home confinement rather than the prescribed 18-24 months behind bars. Again, the appellate court said she used faulty reasoning to depart from the sentencing guidelines...
...other hand, Brinkema sentenced a Loudoun County doctor to 30 months in prison, 2 1/2 times what was called for in the guidelines, for performing examinations under the influence of painkillers he stole from his patients. She said the defendant, Joseph Shaw Jones, created a "significant risk of injury and harm to the public health...