Another precedent setting win in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

On May 12, 2016, Partner Clifford Ashcroft-Smith secured another extraordinary victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Martinez-Rodriguez, 821 F.3d 659 (5th Cir. 2016).

In a published case that now sets precedent across the three states within the Fifth Circuit, Ashcroft-Smith has reversed and vacated a 360-month sentence for his client.

Ashcroft-Smith took over representation on appeal after the client was already found guilty and sentenced. After years of work and overcoming numerous challenges involving issues never encountered within the Fifth Circuit before, Ashcroft-Smith’s efforts paid off.

This victory is incredible because of the rare success of winning under the difficult legal standard of plain error. This rigorous standard requires demonstrating, among other things, that the nature of the error seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. It also involves persuading the federal appeals court to exercise it discretion in addition to correct the error.

Historically, there is a single digit percentage chance of winning this type of case in the Fifth Circuit.

The winning issue surfaced during the sentencing phase of the lower court case. Ashcroft-Smith targeted the improper application and significant consequences resulting from a sentencing enhancement under the United States Sentencing Guidelines.