The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered that Ahmed Ressam, a convicted terrorist arrested in December 1999 in Port Angeles with a car full of explosives, be sentenced again.And this time, the court has ordered that U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, who presided over Ressam's trial and his sentencing, not be involved.
In a 2-1 decision, the court's majority said Coughenour's sentence -- 43 years below the low range of the federal sentencing guidelines -- was "both procedurally and substantively unreasonable."
It concluded: "The district judge's previously expressed views appear too entrenched to allow for the appearance of fairness on remand. For these reasons, we direct that the case be reassigned to a different judge for resentencing."
In December 2008, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle appealed the 22-year sentence imposed Ressam. Ressam, an Algerian, had intended to set off the explosives at Los Angeles International Airport. The 9th Circuit had sent the case back to Coughenour for resentencing because of the judge's failure at Ressam's original sentencing in 2005 to clearly enumerate how he had calculated Ressam's sentence under federal guidelines. Coughenour rejected a request from prosecutors at a Dec. 3, 2008 hearing that Ressam be sentenced to life in prison, because he had stopped cooperating with investigators. Instead, he re-imposed the 22-year sentence.
The appeals court ruled Tuesday that Coughenour "committed procedural error in failing to address specific, nonfrivolous arguments raised by the government in imposing a sentence that is well below the advisory sentencing guidelines range." The court ruled that Coughenour failed to keep the sentencing guidelines -- Ressam had faced 65 years to life under them -- in mind. The judge had not detailed why he rejected prosecutors' arguments about Ressam's cooperation.
The majority said Coughenour not only failed "to give 'substantial weight' to the government's evaluation of the extent of the defendant's assistance, it failed to give it any weight. The district court credited only Ressam's assessment of the value of his own cooperation, offering no explanation as to why it was rejecting the government's assessment." The majority also faulted Coughenhour for failing to address prosecutors' arguments that a longer sentence was needed to protect the public.
Ressam, whom the appeals court said "has demonstrated strongly held beliefs about the need to attack American interests in the United States and abroad," would be 53 years old when released under the 22-year sentence.
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