puck_it
07-27-2006, 01:16 PM
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) - A federal judge has refused to revisit the prison sentence he handed Mike Danton for the former St. Louis Blues player's failed bid to have his agent killed, again foiling the inmate's push to be transferred to his native Canada to serve his time.
In throwing out Danton's appeal, U.S. District Judge William Stiehl found that Danton knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to challenge the 7½ year sentence he got in November 2004 after accepting a deal with prosecutors and pleading guilty to murder conspiracy charges.
The ruling assures that Danton, a native of Brampton, Ont., remains inmate No. 10096-111 at a prison in Fort Dix, N.J.
Messages were left Thursday with Danton's lawyers in St. Louis and Santa Ana, Calif.
With Danton's July 2004 plea, prosecutors agreed not to oppose Danton's deportation to Canada, where he said he wanted to get behind-bars surgical treatment for a shoulder injury and therapy for what his sentencing request called his "grave mental disorders."
if(!sops){if(p.sops){var sops=p.sops;}else{var sops="";}} if(dUnitBox==true){boxAd=true;} if(boxAd){if((!dUnitSky)||(!dUnitSuper)||(dUnitBox )){place300x250();}} Danton sued the U.S. government last November, contending that he unfairly has not been transferred to Canada and arguing that "similarly situated applicants have been approved for removal to their home nations, which include Canada." Danton asked to be resentenced.
The U.S. government insisted no regulations require action on international transfers within a specified time, and that Danton's deal did not require a transfer, only that he be considered for one.
In rejecting Danton's transfer request in March, the U.S. government said the move "would not serve the ends of justice." Danton could reapply for transfer in 2008, with that application "more likely to be approved" if the prisoner has maintained the best possible prison record and has tried to address "those reasons for denial over which the prisoner has some control," the chief of the Justice Department's international prisoner-transfer unit has said without elaborating.
In an April letter to media outlets, Danton claimed he was a "perfect" prisoner and was making progress with a psychologist, tutoring other inmates, studying French and taking computer courses.
Stiehl declined to intervene last week, saying decisions on transfers to or from foreign countries "is left entirely to the discretion of the Attorney General."
"The crux of (Danton's) argument is that since the Justice Department did not issue a decision on his transfer request within his desired timeframe, that this Court's sentencing intent was frustrated. The Court finds this argument to be unpersuasive," Stiehl wrote.
Additionally, Stiehl ruled that while he voiced no specific expectation as to how long Danton's transfer request should be considered, "the Court did expect that it would be considered within a reasonable time, which the Court FINDS it was."
Danton pleaded guilty to orchestrating a conspiracy to commit an interstate killing targeting his agent, David Frost. The FBI learned of the plot in advance, and Frost was unharmed.
In September 2004, a federal jury acquitted Katie Wolfmeyer of Florissant, Mo., of charges she took part in the plot.
this thing only gets worse and worse
In throwing out Danton's appeal, U.S. District Judge William Stiehl found that Danton knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to challenge the 7½ year sentence he got in November 2004 after accepting a deal with prosecutors and pleading guilty to murder conspiracy charges.
The ruling assures that Danton, a native of Brampton, Ont., remains inmate No. 10096-111 at a prison in Fort Dix, N.J.
Messages were left Thursday with Danton's lawyers in St. Louis and Santa Ana, Calif.
With Danton's July 2004 plea, prosecutors agreed not to oppose Danton's deportation to Canada, where he said he wanted to get behind-bars surgical treatment for a shoulder injury and therapy for what his sentencing request called his "grave mental disorders."
if(!sops){if(p.sops){var sops=p.sops;}else{var sops="";}} if(dUnitBox==true){boxAd=true;} if(boxAd){if((!dUnitSky)||(!dUnitSuper)||(dUnitBox )){place300x250();}} Danton sued the U.S. government last November, contending that he unfairly has not been transferred to Canada and arguing that "similarly situated applicants have been approved for removal to their home nations, which include Canada." Danton asked to be resentenced.
The U.S. government insisted no regulations require action on international transfers within a specified time, and that Danton's deal did not require a transfer, only that he be considered for one.
In rejecting Danton's transfer request in March, the U.S. government said the move "would not serve the ends of justice." Danton could reapply for transfer in 2008, with that application "more likely to be approved" if the prisoner has maintained the best possible prison record and has tried to address "those reasons for denial over which the prisoner has some control," the chief of the Justice Department's international prisoner-transfer unit has said without elaborating.
In an April letter to media outlets, Danton claimed he was a "perfect" prisoner and was making progress with a psychologist, tutoring other inmates, studying French and taking computer courses.
Stiehl declined to intervene last week, saying decisions on transfers to or from foreign countries "is left entirely to the discretion of the Attorney General."
"The crux of (Danton's) argument is that since the Justice Department did not issue a decision on his transfer request within his desired timeframe, that this Court's sentencing intent was frustrated. The Court finds this argument to be unpersuasive," Stiehl wrote.
Additionally, Stiehl ruled that while he voiced no specific expectation as to how long Danton's transfer request should be considered, "the Court did expect that it would be considered within a reasonable time, which the Court FINDS it was."
Danton pleaded guilty to orchestrating a conspiracy to commit an interstate killing targeting his agent, David Frost. The FBI learned of the plot in advance, and Frost was unharmed.
In September 2004, a federal jury acquitted Katie Wolfmeyer of Florissant, Mo., of charges she took part in the plot.
this thing only gets worse and worse