William M. Acker, Jr. Northern District of Alabama - Roger Williams ...

each defendant to twenty-five more years.12 Ultimately he explained that “. . . I’m going todo what I am told. I’m not liking it, and I’m telling you in the record that I wouldn’t have itdone that way had I known what was going to happen.”13 He also told the defense attorneysby way of explanation that “my hands are tied with Duck [sic] tape. My mouth’s not as Ithink you can tell, but I can’t do anything, but ultimately use my as mouth as directed by theDuck [sic] tape.”14Judge Acker also made it clear that if he had sentenced Rodney on all the countssimultaneously, his total sentence would have been lower.15 Specifically, he stated that heprobably would not have given Rodney 108 months on the substantive counts and then addedtwenty five years of consecutive gun time as was now required. Instead, he said, “I wouldhave given them 25 years at the maximum is what I think I would have done. I would havetried to find a way, or maybe I couldn’t.”16Judge Acker ended the sentencing hearing wishing the defense attorneys luck on their secondtrip to the Eleventh Circuit. However, that court rejected their second appeal and theSupreme Court denied certiorari. Thus, Rodney will be in prison until around the age of fifty.Commenting on this case many years later, Judge Acker writes, “You can see why I’m nottaking criminal cases anymore.”17Looking back at his short life before prison, Rodney’s story is not far from what one mighthave anticipated. He was raised in a single parent home by his mother, who got involved withdrugs when he was eleven or twelve. As a result, there was little money or supervision in thehome. He was arrested for the first time when he was fourteen for stealing school supplies.He only finished 8 th grade and was smoking marijuana, snorting cocaine, and drinkingheavily as a teenager.12In talking about the appellate opinion, he stated, “I don’t like what I read, because it doesn’t seem fair.. . .” Sent. Tr. at 3.13Sent. Tr. at 7.14Sent. Tr. at 10.15“I can’t go back . . . remember everything that went through my mind at that time and reconstruct . . .what I would have done but . . . in all likelihood it wouldn’t have been what I think I’ve got to donow. . . .” Sent. Tr. at 17.16Sent. Tr. at 17. Here, Judge Acker could have been suggesting two possible courses of action. First,he simply might have meant he would have selected the lowest possible sentence for Rodney for theGuideline portion of the sentence which would have been 97 months. Or, Judge Acker might havebeen implying that he would have searched harder for a departure grounds that would have loweredthe Guideline sentence so that the aggregate sentence would not have been so far above the twentyfiveyears required by the 924(c) counts. It’s not clear if this would have been possible, however, aselsewhere in the transcript, the judge states that he doubted that such grounds existed as none wereargued for successfully at either the District Court or the Court of Appeals. See Sent. Tr. at 9.17July 21, 2005 letter from Judge Acker to author at 1 (on file with author).