Last Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memorandum directing all federal prosecutors to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense.”
This means that absent extenuating circumstances, prosecutors must pursue offenses that carry the highest penalties under federal guidelines, including mandatory minimum sentences.
Mandatory minimum sentences provide that if someone is convicted of selling over a certain quantity of a particular drug, a judge must sentence the offender to a certain minimum sentence which can, depending on the offense, range from five years up to life imprisonment....