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U.S. District Judge John McBryde in Fort Worth and U.S. District Judge David Godbey in Dallas don't work that far apart, but the distance between the two in sentencing drug convicts is the widest in the nation, a new study says.
The gap - a difference of 100 months, or over eight years - was calculated in a first-of-its-kind comparison of sentences by individual judges across the country.
But experts disagree on whether it is evidence of injustice or is in line with the nature of the individual cases they handled.
"This finding raises questions about the extent to which federal sentences are influenced by the particular judge who was assigned to decide it rather than just the specific facts and circumstances of that case," said Susan Long, a professor and co-director of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
The sentencing gap
In the Northern District of Texas, these judges handled 40 or
more drug cases in a five-year span. The median length of
sentences handed down by federal judges John McBryde and
David Godbey is the widest split in any federal district in the
U.S. — a difference of 100 months. Here is the median sentence
imposed by judge, in months (with court location, years on the
bench, and the president who appointed the judge):
U.S. District Judge John McBryde, 160 months
Fort Worth, 22 years, George H.W. Bush
Chief U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater, 121 months
Dallas, 26 years, Ronald Reagan
U.S. District Judge Terry Means, 102 months
Fort Worth, 21 years, George H.W. Bush
U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings, 87 months
Lubbock, 25 years, Ronald Reagan
U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson, 87 months
Amarillo, 33 years, Jimmy Carter
U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade, 71 months
Dallas, 10 years, George W. Bush
U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay, 70 months
Dallas, 14 years, Bill Clinton
U.S. District Judge David Godbey, 60 months
Dallas, 10 years, George W. Bush
SOURCE: Analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
at Syracuse University
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