SCOTUSblog on Southern Union
From OCDLA Library of Defense
This wikilog article is a draft, it was not published yet.
by: Ryan • June 24, 2012 • no comments
Oregon's own Susan Mandiberg wrote about Southern Union at SCOTUSblog. The post is here. Key quote:
More significant, perhaps, is deciding whether Apprendi affects other monetary criminal sanctions such as restitution; the Court suggests that it does apply to any "penalt[y] inflicted by the sovereign for the commission of offenses," and language in the dissent also may support extending Apprendi to restitution.
What would be the ideal case for extending Southern Union to restitution? Well, I imagine an assault IV (misdemeanor) that resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in restitution. (Or at least more than the maximum fine.) Such a scenario would be unlikely, though not, perhaps, impossible.
Could a C felony result in more than $125k in restitution? Again, it's hypothetically possible but still very unusual. (A little bit of criminal mischief that set off an extraordinary chain of damages?) But if you've got such an unusual case, well, you've got a new argument.
