In 2010, I appeared before Judge William Shubb for final sentencing in the case of United States v. Jeff Grubbs. Jeff Grubbs was arrested in 2003, and spent almost 4 months in jail before he was bailed out. We litigated his matter extensively, solely on the search issues. We lost, and were allowed to plead guilty in 2004 with a reservation allowing us to appeal the search issue. He was sentenced to 41 months. He was allowed bail pending appeal.
The appeal went up to the Supreme Court and back down to the Ninth Circuit. We did prevail on a minor issue regarding the confession in the Ninth Circuit, and so we decided to eventually withdraw our prior guilty plea, and then re plead right away again. At sentencing, the major issue was whether Judge Shubb could consider Jeff’s post sentence rehabilitation. Jeff had been excellent since the sentence in 2004. It had been 6 years. Judge Shubb, over the position of probation and the United States, felt that the case law and statutes allowed him to consider the post sentence conduct of Jeff. He sentenced him to straight probation. He was taking a chance on him. Jeff has lived up to that so far.
Today, the United States Supreme Court decided as Judge Shubb did last year. In United States v. Peppers, they held that post sentence conduct is relevant for re sentencing purposes. They over ruled contrary case law. The opinion is available here.
