CHICAGO- President Barack Obama's first judicial nominee, Judge David Hamilton, is already disagreeing with his 7th Circuit colleagues, dissenting in the first case he's heard on the federal appellate bench against a majority opinion written by Judge Richard Posner. Posner last Friday wrote for the majority that the sentence in the fraud case of former lawyer and former Chicago alderman Edward Vrdolyak was a "slap on the wrist" and should be remanded to a new judge.
Federal prosecutors in Chicago had appealed Vrdolyak's sentence for conspiracy to commit fraud by participating in a kickback scheme. . After Vrdolyak pled guilty, Senior U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur in November sentenced him to five years' probation and a $50,000 fee. The U.S. attorney's office in Chicago had sought 41 months' jail time. The 7th Circuit majority reached its decision on the basis of a "cascade of errors and omissions" by the trial judge. Posner wrote that Shadur, who sits in the Northern District of Illinois, erroneously found no loss inflicted on the school. On the contrary, Posner wrote, there was evidence that the school could have received a higher price for the property absent the fraud and that the loss should have been assessed at least as equal to the $1.5 million fee. Hamilton disagreed with the majority on all points except Shadur's error in calculating the loss to the school, noting that $1.5 million was the proper figure to be used. But that was a "harmless error," Hamilton concluded, because Shadur gave a full explanation of why he would have reached the same sentence anyway. "The defendant committed a serious crime, but there were a number of factors that the district court could and did consider in mitigation," Hamilton wrote. "The defendant is 71 years old, had no prior criminal record, and posed little risk of repeat offenses. He had given up his law license. The crime of fraud did not involve violence, and there was no element of public corruption." AEAE gives kudos to Judge David Hamilton
Federal prosecutors in Chicago had appealed Vrdolyak's sentence for conspiracy to commit fraud by participating in a kickback scheme. . After Vrdolyak pled guilty, Senior U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur in November sentenced him to five years' probation and a $50,000 fee. The U.S. attorney's office in Chicago had sought 41 months' jail time. The 7th Circuit majority reached its decision on the basis of a "cascade of errors and omissions" by the trial judge. Posner wrote that Shadur, who sits in the Northern District of Illinois, erroneously found no loss inflicted on the school. On the contrary, Posner wrote, there was evidence that the school could have received a higher price for the property absent the fraud and that the loss should have been assessed at least as equal to the $1.5 million fee. Hamilton disagreed with the majority on all points except Shadur's error in calculating the loss to the school, noting that $1.5 million was the proper figure to be used. But that was a "harmless error," Hamilton concluded, because Shadur gave a full explanation of why he would have reached the same sentence anyway. "The defendant committed a serious crime, but there were a number of factors that the district court could and did consider in mitigation," Hamilton wrote. "The defendant is 71 years old, had no prior criminal record, and posed little risk of repeat offenses. He had given up his law license. The crime of fraud did not involve violence, and there was no element of public corruption." AEAE gives kudos to Judge David Hamilton
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