PITTSBURGH Judge steps down, rips sentencing guidelines

Federal judges are little more than functionaries, the judge said.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A federal judge who stepped down from his lifetime appointment to the bench Friday said sentencing guidelines vocally supported by Attorney General John Ashcroft are "morally wrong" and have disproportionally affected minorities and poor people.
Robert Cindrich, who accepted a position as legal counsel for a Pittsburgh hospital, said federal judges have become little more than functionaries in the legal system.
"We have been sidelined," Cindrich told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "Make no mistake about it."
Big-time drug pushers and violent criminals can get reduced sentences if they give information to prosecutors, but harsh sentences are meted out for small-time criminals with no information to offer, he said.
"The ones at the bottom of the food chain have no one to offer up," Cindrich said. "That's one of the great frustrations. It happens all the time. And as judges, we're stuck."
The change in sentencing guidelines was part of an anti-crime bill signed by President Bush last year and requires federal judges to strictly follow guidelines. Reports on judges who deviate from those guidelines are forwarded to the Justice Department and to Congress.
Criticism for law
The law has been criticized by Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and last week, federal judges in the West blasted the law as unjust during a two day meeting.
U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said she respects Cindrich, but said that the sentencing guidelines ensure a fair sentence for all defendants.
"The federal sentencing guidelines were designed to ensure that defendants who commit similar types of crimes are treated equally in every district throughout the country," she said. "A defendant's sentence should not be significantly affected because of the individual prosecutor assigned to the case, or the district court judge who is imposing sentence."
Before the guidelines were established, Buchanan said, a defendant in one district court could get 30 years in prison for bank robbery. In another district, probation could be the only penalty, she said.
The chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania said judges have to accept that the guidelines "are the law of the country." Chief U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose acknowledged that bigger offenders sometimes get breaks not afforded to lesser criminals.
"That's a problem, and I'm not going to say it isn't," she said. "But I think the U.S. attorney is aware of it, and they're dealing with it."
Cindrich was appointed to the federal bench by President Clinton in 1994.
On Monday, Cindrich becomes chief legal counsel at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.