The Conference on Public Service and the Law

at the University of Virginia School of Law

Criminal Law Panel

Sentencing Guidelines
In light of Attorney General Ashcroft's recent directives ordering federal prosecutors to seek the "most serious readily provable chargeable offense," this panel will discuss the proper behavior for prosecutors. To that end, this panel will pose the following questions: a) Is it desirable to require individual prosecutors to follow guidelines requiring them to charge defendants with the highest level of offense? b) What are the consequences of instituting such guidelines? Are such guidelines cost effective?

Stephen Smith, Moderator
Professor of Law, University of Virginia
Stephen F. Smith joined the University of Virginia Law School faculty in 2000 as an associate professor of law. He has clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States, served in the Supreme Court and appellate practice group of Sidley & Austin in Washington, D.C., and also served as Associate Majority Counsel to a 1996 House of Representatives select subcommittee investigating U.S. involvement in Iranian arms transfers to Bosnia. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth University and his J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School, where he served as Articles Editor for the Virginia Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif and the Raven Society.

Michael Nachmanoff
Assistant Federal Public Defender
Mr. Nachmanoff received both his B.A. ('91) and J.D. ('95) from the University of Virginia. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and then joined the law firm of Cohen, Gettings & Dunham, P.C. in Arlington, Virginia where he represented clients in both criminal and civil matters in state and federal court. In 2002, Mr. Nachmanoff left private practice to work as the First Assistant Federal Public Defender in the newly-created Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he now represents indigent criminal defendants in federal court.

Mary Price
General Counsel, Families Against Mandatory Minimums
Mary Price has been the general counsel for Families Against Mandatory Minimums Foundation (FAMM) since late 2000. She directs the FAMM Litigation Project and works on federal sentencing reform on Capital Hill and before the United States Sentencing Commission. She is a member of the American Bar AssociationÕs Corrections and Sentencing Committee, serves on the PractitionersÕ Advisory Group to the United States Sentencing Commission, and is a board member of the Washington Council of Lawyers.

John Richter, Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff, U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division
Mr. Richter has served as chief of staff for the United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division, since September 2003. His previous positions include detail to the Justice Department's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, Assistant U.S. Attorney in Oklahoma and Georgia, associate at King & Spalding in Atlanta, and clerk for Judge J. Owen Forester of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. He received his B.A. from Emory University and his J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School.