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| Ohio River, southern Illinois |
Martin was found guilty of all charges two years ago. And what charges they were. But the four-term sheriff appealed his sentence. He received some good news today, as the Evansville Courier & Press tells us:
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago has vacated the two life sentences of former Gallatin County Sheriff Raymond M. Martin.Wow...what a creep. And this is a reminder that Illinois public corruption is not just a Chicago and Cook County thing.
The case has been remanded to the U.S. District Court for Southern Illinois for resentencing. The court rejected a bid for a new trial, affirming Martin's conviction for dealing marijuana, witness tampering and attempting to conceal financial transactions.
In December, Martin's attorney argued the judge who sentenced Martin failed to follow the sentencing guidelines that were developed through the court's own pre-sentence report. The pre-sentence report recommended a sentence of five years to life on one charge, and 25 years to life on another.
In the court's ruling, issued Tuesday morning, the justices wrote "The government concedes that the court was operating under a misunderstanding regarding the guidelines range for Counts 4 and 5 for carrying a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking crime. Accordingly, the guidelines range for counts 4 and 5 was 5 to 25 years respectively, not 5 years to life and 25 years to life."
From top to bottom, Illinois is rotten.
Oh, the Evansville reporter of course neglected to mention Martin's party affiliation.
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