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Former deputy T.J. Smith again faces resentencing
New judge to oversee third sentencing hearing
Out of federal prison for more than a year, a former Putnam County sheriff’s deputy and Greencastle city council will again face resentencing in federal court.
And when Terre Joe “T.J.” Smith appears in court, it will be in front of a new sentencing judge.
A panel of three judges from 7th District Court of Appeals released its ruling on Monday that the case be remanded to the district court due to the “light sentence” of 14 months that has twice been imposed on Smith by U.S. District Judge William T. Lawrence.
While citing “procedural errors” by Judge Lawrence, the appeals court also applied Circuit Rule 36, which calls for a new judge to oversee the sentencing hearing.
Smith was first charged in March 2014 with four counts of deprivation of civil rights under color of law for incidents of alleged police brutality.
In September of that year, a jury found Smith guilty on two of four counts.
Then in December 2014, Judge Lawrence sentenced Smith to 14 months in prison, a penalty the prosecution promptly appealed, noting that it was less than half of the advisory range of 33 to 41 months for even one conviction.
On the original appeal, the Court of Appeals agreed with the prosecution’s contention, returning the case to Lawrence’s Terre Haute courtroom for resentencing.
The district judge, however, stuck to his original sentence in an April 2016 ruling, only clarifying his reasoning in handing down the exact same 14-month sentence.
Smith had already been released from federal custody in January, having served less than a year of his sentence.
“I do not see any benefit in re-incarcerating Mr. Smith,” Lawrence said at the time.
The prosecution strongly disagreed, filing the second appeal, which was argued before the Court of Appeals on April 12 before judges Justices Richard A. Posner, Ann Claire Williams and Ilana Rovner.
Rovner issued the panel’s decision on Monday.
Covering much of the same ground already trod in this case — a history of violence by Smith, a tendency to brag about the abuse of arrestees, a number of jobs lost — Rovner again questioned the reasoning for Lawrence’s 14-month sentence, particularly after the higher court remanded it the first time.
Rovner pointed to the advisory sentencing range for such crimes and questioned why Smith received little more than a year. She noted that Lawrence gave no indication of his reasoning.
“If there is a rationale to support a sentence that is less than half the low end of the guidelines,” Rovner wrote, “it is not apparent in the record here.”
More than once in the 23-page decision, Rovner noted that not only did the evidence not support Lawrence’s rationale, but at times it outright contradicted Lawrence’s words.
Noting Lawrence’s statement that Smith does “not shy away from work,” Rovner took a different approach, considering the former deputy’s work history.
“Although Smith does ‘not shy away from work,’” Rovner wrote, “he also does not shy away from inappropriate or unlawful conduct at work, losing five separate jobs because of his behavior.”
No court date has been set for Smith’s resentencing.