Monday, October 03, 2011

Incarcertation Is Not Withdrawal. The Second Circuit has held that a party to a conspiracy can be held responsible for losses caused by the conspiracy after his incarcertation. In United States v. Leslie, the defendant arguedthat his sentence had been incorrectly calculated because certain losses caused by the conspiracy in which he had been engaged had been imputed to him and used to establish his sentence even though he had already been incarcerated at the time those loses were incurred. The defendant took the position that incarceration should be seen as withdrawal from the conspiracy. The Court held that withdrawal from a conspiracy required an affirmative act; cessation from participation in the conspiracy was not enough. Accordingly, the defendant, because he had not shown any affirmative act constituting withdrawal, had not withdrawn from the conspiracy, and the entire loss caused by the conspriacy was imputable to him for purposes of sentencing.

The decision in this case can be found here.

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