Qwest sentencing update: What's Nacchio's liability?

The Race to the Bottom blog has an excellent summary of the government's and the defendant's views on what Nacchio's sentence should be.

Addressing the “extraordinary family circumstances” issue, government cites States v. McClatchey , 316 F.3d 1122, 1130-31(10 Cir. 2005) for the rule that this downward adjustment applies only where the defendant is the only person that can take care of a family member. Since Nacchio’ wife “has the time and resources” to care for the children, the government asserts the exception does not apply and states the following:

“While Dr. Hammer certainly paints an unfortunate picture of David Nacchio’s prognosis, it simply does not justify absolving the defendant from his crimes and allowing him to avoid his just punishment.”

Addressing the issue of Nacchio’s charitable works, the government again cites case law that only extraordinary charitable works will support a more-lenient sentence and business executives do not meet this test since they ordinarily become leaders in community charities. The government labels Nacchio’s charitable works as not extraordinary, but ordinary and “entirely consistent” with Qwest’s business development goals.