Osler's Razor

Yesterday's Waco Tribune-Herald had this lengthy and intriguing piece by Cindy Culp analyzing the use of prosecutorial discretion by our local D.A., John Segrest. It's an excellent article. Even though she talked to me, she also talked to some people I really look up to in the area-- especially Marc Miller from Arizona and Ron Wright of Wake Forest, who are exactly the people who should be commenting on this issue.

In the field of criminal law, the use of discretion by prosecutors is hugely important while largely unseen. Many people, myself included, see the shift to mandatory sentencing guidelines in 1987 as a device which, more than anything, shifted power to federal prosecutors such as myself (from 1995-2000). At my first sentencing hearing, I realized that I had greater power than the sentencing judge, a revered 30-year veteran named Avern Cohn. Sadly, my knowledge and judgment were a fraction of his. The transition to "advisory" guidelines in 2005 has done less than expected to fix this imbalance.

I really appreciate Cindy Culp's attention to this important question, which is a fair area of inquiry as we approach a D.A. election. Already, some of my favorite writers/people are at the Trib-- Carl Hoover, Wendy Gragg, Tim Woods-- and I hope to see more great pieces like this.

Notably, this afternoon leading law blogger Doug Berman praised this story, too.