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No prison time added in Smith resentencing
TERRE HAUTE -- A federal judge Friday morning reimposed the exact same sentence previously handed down to a former Putnam County sheriff's deputy and Greencastle city councilman.
In what amounted to a procedural matter, Judge William T. Lawrence resentenced T.J. Smith, 39, Greencastle, to the original 14-month sentence he imposed in December 2014. The judge also reimposed the two years of probation, as well as a $500 fine and a $200 special assessment for court fees.
In September 2014, a federal jury found Smith guilty of two of the four counts of police brutality with which he was charged.
Lawrence noted in handing down his decision that all terms of the sentence have been met already, save the two years of probation, which began when Smith was released from federal custody in January.
"I do not see any benefit in re-incarcerating Mr. Smith," Lawrence said, noting that Smith has found employment outside of law enforcement and has been reunited with his family.
Smith served less than a year of the original four-year sentence.
Rather than imposing a new, stiffer sentence on Smith, Lawrence used Friday's hearing to try and further clarify his reasoning for handing down the sentence.
Noting that Smith seems to have made "a smooth transition back into the community," Lawrence went on to discuss the facts of the case and Smith's life at length.
Besides citing a pair of previous federal sentences involving police brutality, a nod to the court of appeals decision, Lawrence noted the emotional letter Smith had read to the court earlier in the proceedings.
In the letter, Smith noted that although he entered prison as a former police officer, he began to see himself like the other inmates who were "just trying to better themselves."
Smith mentioned a specific inmate serving a 15-year sentence who spent several years learning to read and write. The man went on to earn his GED and eventually learn a trade.
Even after all this, the man had several years simply to wait, even though he had made great strides in bettering himself.
"You made the right decision when you sentenced me," Smith said to the judge. "I want to be an example that not everyone needs a long sentence."
"You knew exactly what I needed to get back on track and I thank you."
Lawrence saw in these words a newfound empathy for Smith's victims.
"I find it telling that you're mindful of the victims of your actions," Lawrence said. "I didn't find you so disposed at the time of your original sentencing."
Assistant U.S. District Attorney Bradley Blackington saw Smith's statement differently, calling it "self-serving."
"The interesting thing to me was that T.J. Smith did not talk about the real victims in this case, which were the four people that he assaulted," Blackington said after the hearing. "He had absolutely no remorse for those people, but he had a whole lot of love for the people he served prison time with.
"T.J. Smith didn't get it two years ago and he still doesn't get it today."
Blackington's most serious objection was with the lack of any new punishment for Smith. The prosecutor argued that the appeals court decision was based on Lawrence's original decision being "procedurally unreasonable" as well as "substantively unreasonable."
The translation: Judge Posner wanted Judge Lawrence to not give more of an explanation but also to impose more time.
"He (Judge Lawrence) did give more justification for the sentence but the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said that the low sentence itself was unreasonable and there's nothing in the record to justify the low sentences," Blackington said. "So I think we're still left with a situation where there's nothing in the record to justify the sentence and that it was unreasonably low."
When that did not happen, Blackington took the opportunity to respectfully yet emphatically voice the government's objection to Lawrence's decision.
"We believe that the Seventh Circuit Court previously held that the sentence was unreasonable," Blackington said. "We believe that the decision is contrary to the mandate."
As has been noted by the prosecutor and the appellate judge, Smith's sentence falls well short of both the advisory sentence (33-41 months) and of the precedents set by similar cases.
Blackington argued for 60 months during both sentencing hearings, but said even the minimum advisory of 33 months would have been more appropriate.
"This sentence is less than half the minimum sentencing guideline range," he said.
Following the proceedings, Blackington raised the possibility of another appeal.
"The United States Attorney's Office doesn't have the authority to prosecute an appeal directly under federal law," Blackington said. "We have to get permission from the Solicitor General of the United States for permission to do that. We intend to ask the Solicitor General's Office for permission to do that."
If an appeal is filed and the sentence is again overturned, there is even a possibility that the appeals court could assign a new judge to the case.
At this point, any further appeals and new sentencing hearings appear to be less about Smith than about the precedent that such a sentence sets.
"Mr. Smith would be a bad example for other police officers to follow. That's precisely why this is a case that needs a significant sentence," Blackington said. "We can't have police officers doing this in the southern district of Indiana or anywhere else in the country.
Even so, the prosecutor was not comfortable placing the case into a larger, nationwide concern over police behavior.
"I'm not going to put this in the cast of this nationwide issue about police brutality. That's unfair," Blackington said."You have to consider these on a case-by-case basis and I don't believe in painting these cases with a broad brush or trying to create justice based upon what happens to be a hot issue today. If you do that, injustice is what's going to result."
Smith was originally arrested by FBI agents in March 2014 on four felony charges of deprivation of civil rights under color of law. He was subsequently tried and convicted of two Class C felonies in September 2014.
Following the original sentencing hearing in December of that year, both the defense and the prosecution filed appeals in the case.
Judge Posner's opinion in the case affirmed the conviction, but remanded the case back to district court for resentencing.
VIDEO: Deputy U.S. Prosecutor Bradley Blackington reacts to T.J. Smith resentencing.