Richardson v. United States

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

YOUNG, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This is a case abounding in irony. It requires this Court, first, to figure out how the First Circuit would handle evidence of ineffectiveness of counsel — not in proceedings at the trial level — but in prosecuting an appeal before it; and, second, to consider whether petitioner Joanne Richardson (“Richardson”) might benefit from re-sentencing before one of my colleagues.

These issues are not the ordinary grist of the district court mill. Yet, in the strange world of federal sentencing today they must be addressed, notwithstanding the…