Filed: Aug. 18, 2016
Latest Update: Aug. 18, 2016
Summary: MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON GOVERNMENT'S MOTION TO ALLOW VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS AT SENTENCING RICHARD G. STEARNS , District Judge . In this motion, the government seeks permission to introduce victim impact statements at defendants' sentencing hearing. The motion will be denied for the following reasons. First, as the government itself concedes, the victims the government has in mind are not victims of any crime for which the defendants have been convicted. 1 As the government has acknowled
Summary: MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON GOVERNMENT'S MOTION TO ALLOW VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS AT SENTENCING RICHARD G. STEARNS , District Judge . In this motion, the government seeks permission to introduce victim impact statements at defendants' sentencing hearing. The motion will be denied for the following reasons. First, as the government itself concedes, the victims the government has in mind are not victims of any crime for which the defendants have been convicted. 1 As the government has acknowledg..
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MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON GOVERNMENT'S MOTION TO ALLOW VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS AT SENTENCING
RICHARD G. STEARNS, District Judge.
In this motion, the government seeks permission to introduce victim impact statements at defendants' sentencing hearing. The motion will be denied for the following reasons.
First, as the government itself concedes, the victims the government has in mind are not victims of any crime for which the defendants have been convicted.1 As the government has acknowledged from the outset of the case (and states again in its supporting memorandum), the Conigliaros were passive investors in New England Compounding Center (NECC) and had no involvement in the compounding of drugs or the day-to-day operations of NECC.
Second, the Conigliaros pled guilty pursuant to plea agreements in which the government bound itself to make a recommendation to the court of a non-incarcerated sentence. While I am not suggesting this is the government's intent, presenting victim impact statements to the court at sentencing would likely be construed as an implied effort to persuade the court to reject the government's recommendation and impose a harsher sentence. This would have the effect of placing the government in the ethically challenged position of implicitly undermining the position it bound itself to advocate in the plea agreement. See United States v. Clark, 55 F.3d 9, 12 (1st Cir. 1995) ("[W]hen a plea rests in any significant degree on a promise or agreement of the prosecutor, so that it can be said to be part of the inducement or consideration, such promise must be fulfilled."), quoting Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 262 (1971).
And finally, the invitation to victims of the meningitis outbreak and their relatives to express themselves in the context of this case is a misdirection of the anguish and indignation that they no doubt genuinely feel. This is not the forum for victim impact statements related to NECC's alleged compounding malpractice. The court has made clear that it will not sentence the Conigliaros for misdeeds for which they have no criminal responsibility.
ORDER
For the foregoing reasons, the motion is DENIED.
SO ORDERED.
