Hennepin County Judges Under Scrutiny For Sentences Below Recommended Guidelines
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota's judicial system has been in the national spotlight several times over the last few years.
With those high-profile cases came scrutiny over sentences and what was appropriate.
WCCO-TV investigated the felony sentencing records of several Hennepin County judges, and we wanted to know: how often are sentences outside of the state-recommended guidelines?
Katie Wright is still in pain about Judge Regina Chu going below the recommendation this year in sentencing former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter.
A jury found Potter guilty of manslaughter in the 2021 death of Katie's son, Daunte Wright.
"Judge Regina Chu was hurting us. She was literally making us feel like we were the ones that had committed a crime," Wright said.
Chu shed tears as she handed down a sentence that was more lenient than what state guidelines recommended for Potter. Guidelines called for a sentence of at least six years for Potter. Chu sentenced her to two years.
"I cried," Wright said. "To hear her have so much sympathy for somebody who just took our son from us."
Chu was within her rights as a judge to depart from sentencing guidelines. Recommended sentences are determined in Minnesota by the severity of the crime, and the guilty person's criminal history.
"It's designed to make sure that you eliminate bias and racial prejudice, and you take into account a rational and consistent way to sentence people," said Joseph Daly, professor emeritus at Mitchell Hamline School of Law.
WCCO-TV looked at every felony Chu sentenced to prison from 2018 to 2020. She went shorter than what was recommended, in what's known as a "downward durational departure," on more than 30% of the prison sentences she handed down.
That wasn't as often though as several of her colleagues on the Hennepin County bench.
Examining the sentencing records of nine other judges on Chu's judicial "team" with at least 150 felonies sentenced in the three-year period, Judge Paul Scoggin was the most lenient. He pronounced a downward durational departure on 48.7% of his prison sentences.
Judge Peter Cahill, who sentenced former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd, was second, pronouncing downward departures on 38.7% of his prison sentences.
Cahill gave Chauvin a longer sentence than what state guidelines recommended, in an "upward durational departure."
"My friends who are judges tell me this is really hard. You are taking the freedom of a human being away," Daly said.
Judges can also decide to give probation when guidelines call for prison. In these "downward dispositional departures," prison time only accompanies a probation violation.
Of the 9 felony judges WCCO-TV looked at, Judge William Koch had the highest rate of downward dispositional departures of 43.5%. Chu was in the middle of the pack at 32.3%.
An important caveat with the departure rates is that the most common reasons given for going outside the guidelines are plea agreements or the recommendations of prosecutors.
In 2019, Minnesota prosecutors either recommended, agreed to, or did not object, to three in four sentences that were pronounced as downward durational departures.
Lawyers can appeal judges' sentencing departures, but prosecutors have said they won't be doing so in Potter's case.
Wright says they'll continue to say Daunte's name, and celebrate him.
"Around this time next year, [Potter will] be free to be able to go home to her children, while we still have to visit a memorial," Wright said.
Judges must give reason(s) for sentencing departures in a form filed with the court. In the Potter case, Chu marked the box on the form that said, "Crime less onerous than usual."
EDITOR'S NOTE: In an original version of this story, we included data about the departure rate of Judge Carolina Lamas. That data should not have been included without further context. Judge Lamas is currently a criminal court judge. We have learned she was a mental health treatment court judge during the timeframe of the data we were given. Mental health treatment court judges more often give downward departure sentences when compared to criminal court judges handling felonies because state sentencing guidelines offer treatment over jail or prison time to defendants in mental health treatment court.
