Aryan Brotherhood Sentencing
Aryan Brotherhood honcho Barry "The Baron" Mills was sentenced to no incremental punishment at all for the killings of black inmates Frank Joyner and Abdul Salaam in a prison race riot in 1997. On paper, he received four consecutive life terms for these and other crimes, but more prison terms mean nothing for a person already in prison for life. As noted here, the jury voted 9 to 3 for the death penalty, but in the surreal world of federal capital sentencing, the 3 prevail over the 9.
"Defense attorneys said they were disappointed, but not surprised, with the sentences," according to this AP article by Gillian Flaccus, and they think they have good arguments for appeal. Let's hope so. A life sentence that results from deadlock is not protected by the Double Jeopardy Clause. See Sattazahn v. Pennsylvania, 537 U.S. 101 (2003).
According to the article, the AUSA said in court that the Attorney General will administratively impose severe restrictions on the defendants. The judge expressed doubt that the conditions would actually be enforced, considering the deteriorating conditions at the prison.
"'I can only pray that the attorney general will provide the resources to carry out these conditions,' Carter said, adding that it was the only way to prevent 'further inmates and members of the Bureau of Prisons staff (from being) hurt and, God forbid, killed.'"
No, actually, the most effective way to prevent that is to fix the federal death penalty law so murderers such as Mills are sentenced to death and also fix the review process so those sentences are carried out in a reasonable period of time.