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Sentencing/Post Conviction

Federal judge enlists prosecutor to allow him to reduce 57-year sentence he imposed in carjackings

A federal judge who didn’t like the 57-year sentence he was forced to impose is expected to cut the punishment today after persuading the prosecutor to help him.

The defendant, Francois Holloway, has already served nearly two decades in prison for carjackings and his participation in an illegal chop shop used to sell parts from stolen cars, the New York Times reports. Sentenced in 1996, Holloway received more time in prison than the average for convicted murderers in the Eastern District of New York at that time.

Because Holloway’s accomplice used a gun, Holloway’s sentence was increased by five years for the first of three carjacking counts, and by 20 years each on the two others, the story says. Holloway’s co-defendants all pleaded guilty, and none received a sentence longer than six years. Holloway had turned down a plea deal of 11 years.

Already speaking out against mandatory minimum sentences, U.S. District Judge John Gleeson of Brooklyn went to bat for Holloway, the Times says. He wrote to U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch and asked her to vacate two of Holloway’s convictions. At first she refused, but she agreed after reconsidering.

Gleeson is expected to resentence Holloway on Tuesday to time served.