Judge Gleeson stepping down from the bench

The New York Daily News reports that Federal District Judge John Gleeson is stepping down from the bench to practice law. Judge Gleeson may be best known to the public for his prosecution of mob boss John Gotti more than two decades ago, but while on the bench he has been a champion for sentencing reform, criticizing long mandatory sentences and coercive prosecutorial tactics.  More recently he has stepped into the debate over the punitive impact of collateral consequences, expunging the record of a woman he had sentenced 13 years before. The article notes that

Federal prosecutors are also fighting him tooth and nail on a decision to expunge the criminal record of a Brooklyn woman who convinced the judge that she was trying to turn her life around but could not find a good job because of a fraud conviction years ago.

The government has appealed Judge Gleeson’s expungement order, and CCRC recently filed an amicus brief in the Second Circuit in the case of U.S. v. Jane Doe.

Look for more in this space on Judge Gleeson’s resignation.

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