McNabb in the News (8-22-06)

Senior Principal Douglas McNabb has been quoted in an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal regarding the sentencing of Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Dario Herrera.

Douglas McNabb … who specializes in federal criminal cases, said Herrera was fortunate the judge did not sentence him to more than the 51 months recommended by the prosecution.

"If a result of the criminal activity of public officials causes the public to lose confidence in their government, the court could have departed upward" from the sentencing guidelines, McNabb said.

Herrera requested to be sent to a federal prison camp in Englewood, Colo. If that was unavailable, he requested placement in a camp in Florence, Colo. Why he opted for Colorado rather than a closer prison facility in California was unclear.

Herrera also pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge in August 2004, an act that the Bureau of Prisons might evaluate before placing Herrera in a camp, McNabb said. But Hicks made no mention of the charge and said Herrera had no criminal history.

"That (battery case) might not be enough to keep him out of a camp," McNabb said.

…

Neither Herrera nor Kincaid-Chauncey is likely to spend a full term in the camps, McNabb said.

Typically, inmates at federal facilities serve 85 percent of their terms. Inmates might be transferred to a halfway house for the last six months of the time served.

That means Herrera could serve 36 months in prison and six months in a halfway house. Kincaid-Chauncey might serve 19 months in the camp and six months in a halfway house.^[1]

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[1] Adrienne Packer, Political Corruption: Judge Hammers Herrera Las Vegas Review-Journal, Aug. 22, 2006.