JaneAnne Murray - Ensuring Justice for All

Aug 2

My name is Joshua Bevill and I'm serving a harsh 30-year federal prison sentence that is grossly disproportionate to my crime: I made misrepresentations to three high-net-worth investor/victims, resulting in a combined loss of $106,000. To understand why I admire JaneAnn Murray, the focus of this blog, you first have to have an understanding of my situation.

To inflate my U.S. Sentencing Guideline range to the moon, the court used entirely separate uncharged, untried crimes that it says I committed some seven years before the conduct in my present case began—remote uncharged crimes that had absolutely no connection to my crime of conviction. To support the uncharged crimes the court relied on vague, uncorroborated, untested out-of-court hearsay from someone who was caught lying as well as committing additional federal crimes under federal agents' nose while he was "cooperating."

I wasn't allowed to face my accuser since unsworn, uncorroborated, untested out-of-court hearsay can be used to support uncharged, untried crimes tacked on at my sentencing, which is what drove my Guideline range to life without parole, or death by imprisonment—for making misrepresentations to three high-net-worth investor/victims, causing a $106,000 loss.

Think about that.

There was also an unprecedented double punishment element that had a massive effect on my Guideline range. The sentencing anomaly even prompted federal prosecutors to initially ask for a 60 to 90 percent downward variance to help offset the perverse effect, an extraordinary request indeed. In the end, I received 30 years in federal prison. There is no parole in the federal system.

The last 13 years of incarceration have been a long road. Although prison time was necessary in my case, I'm now serving a punitive sentence that serves to warehouse me during my prime years—as there is a point where a sentence stops being corrective and starts being punitive.

Still, I wake up each day full of hope and joy. I love my life. And outside of my commitment to the Word of God, it's people like JaneAnne Murray who fuel and renew that hope. When I saw that she helped free 14 people by way of Clemency in one year, I knew she was a special person whom I had to write about. But I'll circle back to her in a minute.

The United States is on the precipice of change. Transformation hangs in the air like lightning in wait, crackling and sparking, ready to light up the darkness. That darkness has hung over our criminal justice system for decades, extinguishing the hope of tens of thousands of individuals who have been rotting in prison cells, sentenced to time that didn’t fit the crime.

It would shock many Americans to learn that our country has the highest incarceration rates in the entire world, beating out much larger countries like China and India, year after year. According to recent data from the Bureau of Justice (BJS), roughly 2.2 million adults were incarcerated at the end of 2016. To put that into perspective, that means that out of every 100,000 Americans, approximately 655 of them were sitting behind bars.

While many of the men and women incarcerated will only spend a short time behind bars, many more are serving very long sentences, and often decades longer than what they would have been sentenced in another country. In fact, according to FBI data, 53% of inmates are serving sentences of 10 years or more while 30% are serving sentences of 15 years or more.

It’s no wonder that a bipartisan consensus is growing in this country, demanding change in our justice system. From politicians to judges to attorneys and the public at large, a reckoning is upon us and the United States must reform our hyper-punitive laws so that no individuals will ever be left to die behind bars for non-violent - and often first time - offenses. One woman on the forefront of this justice system reform is Professor JaneAnne Murray.

Ensuring Justice for All

JaneAnne Murray is a Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School where she teaches criminal procedure and sentencing advocacy. She is also a defense attorney specializing in criminal law and government investigations and sits on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL).

Murray received her B.C.L. degree from University College Cork in 1989 and her LL.M. degree from the University of Cambridge in 1990, both with first-class honors. Upon graduation, Murray moved to New York City to gain some experience. In addition to working as a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Murray was also a trial attorney with the Legal Aid Society of New York in Manhattan, soon after becoming assistant federal public defender in the Eastern District of New York.

It wasn’t long before Murray opened her own practice, defending individuals in numerous high-profile cases and investigations, including Lehman Brothers, A.I.G. and Tyco. She also defended individuals who were facing terrorism charges.

Murray has been the recipient of numerous awards including the 2018 University of Minnesota Outstanding Community Service Award for Faculty. The award, which is the highest the University gives for service to the institution and the community at large, honors those who have made significant contributions to society’s well-being.

Murray was also awarded the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) Champion of Justice Legal Award. This honor is bestowed upon those who passionately defend the constitutional rights of American citizens, ensuring due process and justice for all.

The Largest Clemency Project in the Country

Murray is perhaps most recognized for her clemency advocacy work for prison inmates. Murray was a member of the Clemency Project 2014, a group formed by a consortium of nonprofits that recruited and trained volunteers to represent applicants in then president Obama’s clemency initiative for nonviolent, low-level federal inmates. In her role on the steering committee, Murray was responsible for creating training materials and leading training programs. She also rolled up her proverbial sleeves and got her hands dirty by fielding phone calls and answering letters and emails from clients and family members of the more than 2,600 applicants.

But Murray’s real contribution began when she decided to bring the CP2014 initiative to her law students. In the fall of 2014, Murray officially instituted the Clemency project at the Law School, and under her guidance, 15 students drafted 35 applications on behalf of the eligible inmates, eventually securing 14 clemency grants from President Trump. Murray was heading what became the largest clemency program with student involvement at any law school in the country.

Dean of the school, Garry W. Jenkins has said,

“Her efforts advanced our educational mission at the Law School, connected the Law School with the community, and helped meet a critical legal need for Minnesotans and the nation.”

The 14 clients represented by Murray and her students were all low-level participants in non-violent drug distribution cases who received excessively long sentences. Were these sentences handed out today, they would have been significantly lower thanks to the First Step Act and the reformed federal sentencing guidelines.

“All of these clients were serving excessive sentences that devastated their lives and the lives of their families," Murray has said. "President Trump’s clemency grants reinforce that the cause of criminal justice reform is a bipartisan issue. We are filled with joy that these clients are reuniting with their loved ones. We will continue to represent similarly-situated prisoners and seek to redress the systemic inequities driving their disproportionate sentences.”

A majority of the inmates who were released, thanks to Murray and her students’ efforts, were women who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ann Butler, who served 10 years of a 20-year sentence, had five kids and was working two minimum-wage jobs when she was arrested for a non-violent drug offense.

MaryAnne Locke is another example of someone who was severely sentenced for a non-violent drug offense. Lock experienced great stress and trauma when she was incarcerated just 6 weeks after having had a Caesarean section. She is now living with her father, rebuilding her relationships with her kids, and working full time at a major retail store.

Many of the inmates have already helped to spread awareness and bring about positive change in their community. Cassandra Ann Kasowski served more than seven years of a 17-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. She has turned a negative experience into a positive one by visiting local highschools through the CHOICES program.

Sydney Navarro served almost eight years of a 27-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense and has spoken to at-risk youth in her community through the SHARE program.

Of course, it’s not only the inmates whose lives have been significantly changed with the Clemency Project, many of Murray’s students have also been greatly impacted by the experience.

Bree Crye worked with several of the clients that received commuted sentences and found her time with Murray and the other students to be an incredible journey.

"The feeling I have today is not something I could have learned from a law textbook. The Clemency Project has offered me the unique opportunity to right an actual wrong. Yesterday was a good day, and I hope to use this experience moving forward to inspire wider reform, continuing to shed light on the failures of our criminal justice system.”

For Humanity’s Sake

Thanks to the efforts of people like Professor JaneAnne Murray, real change is finally taking place in our nation’s criminal justice system. But there is much more work to be done because there are many more living, breathing human beings behind bars, serving egregious sentences that in no way fit their crime. And as long as we, as a society, allow these inhumane sentences to be handed out, we negate our own humanity.

JaneAnne Murray is part of my dream team: MiAngel Cody, Brittany K. Barnett, Mark Osler, Amy Povah, Karin Morrison, Jason Hernandez, Amber Baylor, Jessica Jackson, Nancy Gertner, and Rachael Barlow. It's amazing how a handful of people can radically change so many lives in the best way possible. They are an inspiration to us all.

Joshua Bevill

When I was 30 years old I received 30 years in federal prison with no parole; then I was sent to arguably the most violent and volatile maximum-security U.S. Penitentiary in America. I know that just a little compassion can overflow a hopeless person's heart with gratitude. In prison or out, I will make it my life to bring good to the world. The Justice Project gives me that chance; it is my vehicle.

Brittany K Barnett: A True Superhero’s Journey to a Life Devoted to Fighting Injustice

Two Female Criminal Justice Warriors Freed Seventeen People from Life Without Parole Sentences.

Joshua Bevill