Judge Martin Leach-Cross Feldman
September 2012: Average Prison Sentence

District Court - Louisiana East
Referring Agency: Department of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms
Lead Charge: 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts

Show Details   Judge Compared
To District		 Compared
To U.S.
Latest Fiscal Year 311.8 114% 362%
Previous Fiscal Year 27.0 - -
Past 5 Years 154.1 77.3% 121%
Percent not reported where cases too few to provide
meaningful comparison.
Table 1: Current and 5 Year
Average Prison Sentence Comparison

For all cases disposed of in the current fiscal year (2012) that were credited to Judge Martin Leach-Cross Feldman in the Eastern District of Louisiana, the average prison sentence was 311.8 months, when looking only at cases referred by the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms with a lead charge of "18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts". This number is 113.7% higher than the average prison sentence for all the Eastern District of Louisiana matters disposed in the same period. At the same time, the judge's average prison sentence was 361.8% higher than the typical 2012 sentence for the nation as a whole. During the current fiscal year, Judge Martin Leach-Cross Feldman has sentenced 10 defendants compared with 3 defendants during the twelve months of the previous fiscal year.

Focusing on a five-year period, the average prison sentence imposed on defendants that were credited to Judge Feldman was 154.1 months. This was 77.3% higher than the 86.9 months typical in Louisiana East and 120.7% higher than the 69.8 months average prison sentence for the nation. Judge Martin Leach-Cross Feldman sentenced 34 defendants during the past five years.

(CAUTION: The kinds of cases handled by individual judges influences statistical information about their sentences. It therefore is important to consider the breakdown of cases that each has handled, available below, when making judge-by-judge comparisons.)

Bar chart of start

Figure 1: Five Year Comparison of Average Prison Sentence
in Months

Figure 1 compares Judge Feldman's numbers to those for judges in this district and in the United States as a whole for cases of this type over the last five years.

During the last five years there were 10 other judges in the Eastern District of Louisiana with information on convictions during that period. Average prison sentence numbers passed down for those judges ranged from 45.1 months to 119.2 months, putting Judge Feldman's average prison sentence of 154.1 months at the higher end of the range. The average prison sentence for the whole Eastern District of Louisiana during that time was 86.9 months.

Bar chart of label

Figure 2: Detailed Comparison among Judges for the Eastern District of Louisiana

Professional Biography

Born 1934 in St. Louis, MO

Federal Judicial Service
Judge, U. S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana

Nominated by Ronald Reagan on September 12, 1983, to a seat vacated by Jack M. Gordon; Confirmed by the Senate on October 4, 1983, and received commission on October 5, 1983.

Education:
Tulane University, B.A., 1955
Tulane Law School, J.D., 1957

Professional Career:
U.S. Army Reserve captain, JAG Corps, 1957-1963
Law clerk, Hon. John Minor Wisdom, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1957-1959
Private practice, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1959-1983

Program Areas of Cases Handled

Cases disposed of by Judge Martin Leach-Cross Feldman for the past five years fell into a number of broad categories. The lead category for these cases was Weapons accounting for 97.1% of cases.

Program Area Judge District US  
Weapons 97.1% 94.2% 96.5% More
Other 2.9% 3.7% 0.9%  

Table 2: Composition of Cases for the Past Five Years (Top 10)

Number of Defendants in Judge Martin Leach-Cross Feldman's Cases

Case Def. Sentence (Months) Sentencing Date Program Category  
1 1 87.00 05/16/12 Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major Details
2 1 87.00 03/07/12 Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major Details
3 1 64.00 02/08/12 Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major Details
4 6 1200.00 01/11/12 Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major Details
4 3 240.00 11/22/11 Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major Details
4 4 300.00 11/22/11 Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major Details
4 5 240.00 11/16/11 Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major Details
4 7 180.00 11/16/11 Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major Details
4 1 360.00 11/09/11 Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major Details
4 2 360.00 11/09/11 Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major Details

Table 3: Individual Cases and Defendants Disposed of in Current Fiscal Year