THE ROBING ROOM

Judge Arterton is, in fact, a thorough and intelligent jurist. But my compliments stop there. She rigidly adheres to the Sentencing Guidelines in the absence of a substantial assistance motion. She plays goal blocker with any criminal case. You can count on one hand the number of times she has granted a motion to dismiss/judgment of acquittal/habeas corpus/2255 in a criminal case. Based on her comments at a number of sentencing hearings, she has a very black and white view of the world and morality. There is no grey for this Judge. Ask for a downward departure and you'll be lucky if you get 10% of the guidelines even if your client is sick and has a limited number of months to live. She is fair insofar as she believes what she says, but that doesnt mean it is the best outcome. In short, she takes no risk and she has no empathy. I would go so far as to say she has no heart, but I'll stop at empathy. Unfortunately, that is a fair jurist in the laws eyes -- just ask Judge Chatigny who once showed empathy and got beaten up for it before the Senate. Judges are not suppose to show empathy the senators said, they are just suppose to blindly follow the record and the law. Perhaps this episode with Judge Chatigny scared Judge Arterton but she was harsh well before that episode. The cost of her inability to grasp that her rigid ways cost many defendants too much on the 'in side' far longer than necessary is incalculable. I wouldnt rate her a conservative or a liberal. And I wouldnt attack her intelligence as others have done so here. She is smart. She does take her time and will sometimes overlook facts that are favorable to your sides just because she can (hey, every judge does it). She is also as stated above a wonderful goal blocker, at every angle no matter what type of case you have in front of her, if she is on your side...: this means she is intelligent and you just didnt do a good enough job to persuade her to be on your side. She is also more pro-Government than you would want at sentencing. She would have been a terrific prosecutor in another life. Most important though, when she sets deadlines stick to them and don't ignore her rulings. And always know she is very risk averse when it comes to bail decisions, pre-trial and post-trial motions in criminal practice, and sentencing. If you have her for sentencing and your client is not in queue to get a substantial assistance motion, just remember it could be worse. Anyone else remember Judge Timbers?