Ninth Circuit Ditches Heightened Standard of Proof at Sentencing

A California man who received a 57-month prison term for illegal possession of a firearm as a convicted felon will be resentenced after the full Ninth Circuit overruled prior precedent requiring trial courts to find certain facts by “clear and convincing evidence” at sentencing.

Courts may rely on facts proven by just a preponderance of the evidence when applying the US Sentencing Guidelines, even when a sentencing factor has “an extremely disproportionate effect on the sentence relative to the conviction,” the court said in a unanimous en banc ruling Thursday.

While Francisco Lucas Jr. was on probation, law enforcement searched ...