Thomas Gore was facing 20 years in prison for obstructing justice as a part of a plot to cover up a scheme intended to help D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s 2010 campaign.
But under complicated federal sentencing guidelines and a plea deal he made with prosecutors, Gore could end up with a sentence of 12-to-18 months.
And if he cooperates in a substantial way, the sentence could drop even more.
Gore’s salvation may come through an intensely complex set of guidelines that, while advisory in nature, help federal judges determine sentences.
When U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly decides Gore’s fate in the months ahead, she’ll be using a pre-sentencing report and the guidelines to craft an ultimate sentence.
But at a Tuesday morning plea hearing, Kotelly laid out how prosecutors and Gore’s counsel had come up with the recommended sentence.
The calculations begin with a base offense level that the U.S. Sentencing Commission has set. For the obstruction of justice charge, that number is 14.
The sentencing guidelines also list “specific offense characteristics” that can add to the offense level. For the charge at hand, those characteristics include actions like hurting another person to obstruct justice (+8).
That provision didn’t apply to Gore, but he was ensnared under one that adds two levels for choosing an “essential” record to destroy. That brought his offense level to 16.
The guidelines, however, don’t merely feature ways for the government to get a stiffer sentence. There’s also room for defendants to reduce their potential sentence.
In Gore’s case, his cooperation with authorities won him a reduction of three levels, bringing his offense level to 13.
Once the guideline level is determined, a defendant’s criminal history comes into play.
With a clean record, Gore fell into the lowest category for criminal history.
To come up with the sentence recommended by the guidelines, prosecutors and Gore’s team consulted a page-long chart where they cross-matched the offense level (13) with the criminal history category (one). The review placed Gore in the 12-18 month range.
What if Gore hadn’t taken responsibility? He certainly wouldn’t have received the reduction of three levels the government signed off on in his plea agreement (if he had a plea deal at all), and his offense level would have remained at 16. In that case, considering the same criminal history, he would have fallen into a sentencing range of 21-27 months.
By accepting responsibility, Gore potentially shaved some serious time off of his sentence. But he could end up reducing his sentence even more.
By the time his sentencing comes around, a committee of federal prosecutors will have determined whether his cooperation amounted to “substantial assistance.”
If they believe it did, they can ask the court to slash Gore’s ultimate sentence further. The judge will decide how much of a reduction is warranted, if any, if one is requested.
In the end, though, the sentence is still in Kotelly’s hands. Judges are allowed to stray from the guidelines — provided they can justify the so-called “departures” from them — so long as they don’t sentence someone to more than the law allows. (In this case, that’s 20 years.)
The guidelines don’t apply to the three misdemeanor counts Gore pleaded guilty to, either. Those charges are all violations of District law, and federal sentencing guidelines aren’t in force for them.
