A prosecutor's discretion in selecting charges became the primary factor in sentencing, he argued, because once a conviction was obtained, judges felt largely bound by the guidelines.
Once the conviction is upheld under the immunity statute, the question in these cases becomes, not whether the statute grants adequate immunity, but, rather, whether the conviction involved, given the substance of the compelled testimony, falls within the constitutionally required immunity.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer appointed Mr. Cuomo as special prosecutor in response to a request this month from Thomas J. Spota, the Suffolk County district attorney, who led a four-year fight against Mr. Tankleff's appeal, but decided not to retry him once the conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered.
The Trump Administration, notably, said nothing when a Russian court the courts are well within Putin's control found Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and Putin's only serious rival in next year's Presidential election, guilty of a fraud charge that had already been overturned once, a conviction that may keep him out of the race.
Once a conviction is invalid, Ginsburg added, the state may only impose "minimal procedures" so that people like Nelson and Madden may get their money back.
(Silly us: we once had convictions!) Underlying this sneering condescension, of course, is grief.
Those of us who opposed the invasion of Iraq from the outset on the grounds that it was unnecessary, illegal and premature - and that no good cause could possibly entail so much lying - have been waiting grimly as our once-controversial convictions became orthodoxy.
As the squad leader, Hutchins got the longest sentence, 15 years, later reduced to 11. Appeals courts twice have overturned Hutchins' conviction: once on grounds that the NCIS illegally obtained a confession, once because his lawyer was allowed to retire on the eve of trial.
And Erie is given license to lie with conviction once again.
