‘Trial Penalty’ Claim Nixed as 5th Cir. Upholds 20-Year Sentence

A woman who was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment after a jury convicted her on two charges related to health-care fraud and money laundering on Monday lost her Fifth Circuit appeal claiming her lengthy sentence was an improper punishment for going to trial instead of pleading guilty.

Daniela Gozes-Wagner argued her sentence—two consecutive 10-year terms—qualified as an unconstitutional “trial penalty,” because it was more than three times as long as the sentences of her co-conspirators, and because the sentencing judge mentioned her decision to go to trial multiple times at the hearing.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth ...