Brown Law has long been an eager participant in the fight against mass incarceration. We have litigated on behalf of state and federal prisoners all over the country – many of whom were warehoused in prison and forgotten about by much of society.
One of the most impactful areas of our work has been in the area of federal compassionate release. To date we have won nearly 20 of these cases, reducing federal sentences that, until recently, were considered unassailable.
Recently we accomplished something in this area of law we had never done before: we won two compassionate release petitions in one day: February 6, 2024. That afternoon, the Court first granted relief to Stanley Rodgers, reducing his sentence by four years on the grounds that it was disproportionate to the sentences received by his co-defendants. We expect Stanley to be home soon.
Then, about half hour later, we received notification that the Court granted relief to another client, Sonny Spencer, also on the grounds of sentence disparity when compared to his co-defendants.
Needless to say, excitement ran high in our offices. In this line of work – defending and fighting for imprisoned people – we run into heavy resistance. There are times when it seems like the laws are all working against us. Losses sometimes pile up. It is easy to get discouraged. But for at least one afternoon, we were on top – and our clients were coming home!
Congrats to Stanley and Sonny. You both deserve it.
Good Things Come in… 2’s?
