By Gabe Bullard
Kentucky – A Kentucky man serving time for distributing crack cocaine won his case before the U.S. Supreme Court. But as KPR's Gabe Bullard reports, the ruling is unlikely to set a broad precedent.
In a plea deal, William Freeman agreed to serve a nearly nine year sentence, which was based on the sentencing guidelines for crack at the time. But those guidelines changed, and when Freeman sought to have his sentence reduced, he was told he must follow his plea deal rather than the new guidelines.
"That will mean you have to look at each one on a case-by-case basis and decide whether they get the same chance Freeman got here. So he wins, but a lot of other defendants in his same position may not."
In a 5-4 vote, the court ruled in favor of Freeman, and his case will return to federal court in Louisville. But the decision doesn't grant the potentially thousands of other prisoners like Freeman the right to request shorter sentences. Rather, U of L professor Sam Marcosson says it only allows those whose plea deals say they are based on sentencing guidelines to make such requests.