Joshua Bevill made misrepresentations to three wealthy investors, causing a total loss of $106,000. The federal prosecutors, who were practically foaming at the mouth to put Bevill away, cruelly asked the court to bury him alive with a sentence of life in prison with no parole. In case you read that wrong, I said that the federal government pushed for life in prison with no parole because Bevill committed a $106 thousand securities fraud—not a $106 million or billion securities fraud—a prison term technically greater than the sentence given to Bernie Maddoff. 

To manufacture a sentencing range of life in prison with no parole, the court took entirely separate crimes that Bevill had never been charged with, tried for, or convicted of—and which allegedly occurred some eight years before Bevill's crime of conviction—and added them to Bevill's crime of conviction, causing his sentencing range to leap from about five years in prison to life in prison with no parole. 

Now, here’s the most bizarre part of this whole situation: the eight-year-old uncharged crimes had nothing to do with Bevill's crime of conviction—they were entirely unrelated.  

This resulted in a prison term of 30 years in federal prison for a nonviolent securities fraud in which Bevill made misrepresentations to three investors that resulted in a total loss of $106,000. 

We are asking for your support.

What unfolded in Bevill's case is unprecedented in the criminal justice system. To put the egregiousness of his case into perspective, U.S. Supreme Court Justices have called the process of increasing a defendant’s sentencing range threefold by using uncharged crimes that are actually related to the crime of conviction, "sinister" and "perverse," and, of course, "unconstitutional."

In contrast, in Bevill's case, the uncharged crimes were unrelated and resulted in a twenty-fold increase. In a Sentencing Memorandum filed with Bevill's judge, the prosecutors themselves called the situation "unique."

There is no parole in the federal prison system. 

Thus, Bevill must actually serve about 30 years in prison, more than a lot of murderers. Bevill is endeavoring to garner support for a Presidential Clemency, as the manipulation in his case resulted in a draconian prison sentence that is radically disproportionate to any actual harm caused and is indicative of the punitive nature of the federal system. 

In short, Bevill's prison sentence is the product of the most extreme case of U.S. Sentencing Guideline manipulation in the 30-year-plus history of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

Convicting Bevill of one relatively minor crime, only to sentence him to decades in prison for entirely separate, uncharged (alleged) crimes (under the guise of uncharged relevant conduct) that aren't even remotely related the crime of conviction is a perversion of the criminal justice system. Such a dangerous practice undermines the integrity of the entire system.  

This practice has been sharply criticized by the most highly regarded legal minds in the country, including U.S. Supreme Court Justices Korsuch and Kavenaugh, as well as scores of U.S. Appeals Court Judges and legal scholars.

Our team here at The Justice Project Texas implores you to support Josh Bevill's fight for a Presidential sentencing commutation (i.e., grant of Clemency).