Jump to full article: Raleigh (NC) News & Observer, 2004-07-26
Author: LARRY O'DELL, The Associated Press
Intro: Confusion over a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Washington state's sentencing guidelines prompted the Richmond-based federal appeals court to schedule a rare August hearing on the ruling's impact in the five states it covers.
The hearing involves the case of a man convicted of helping terrorists via a North Carolina cigarette-smuggling ring.
The Supreme Court ruled in June that juries, not judges, must consider aggravating factors that can lengthen a defendant's sentence. . . .
The appeals court in Richmond will consider the impact of Blakely in the case of Mohamad Hammoud, who was sentenced to 155 years in prison after being the first person convicted under a federal law that bars aid to terrorist groups. Hammoud led a North Carolina cigarette-smuggling ring that funneled money to the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah.
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