Late last week I had a sentencing in front of the Honorable Beverly Martin. The Presentence Report recommended 235 months in prison because my client had a criminal history category IV. However, I filed objections asking for a minor role. The Honorable Court agreed with the role reduction. Because there is a fairly new graduated role reduction, under 2D1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines, my client's base offense level went from a level 38 to a level 34 and then another two levels off for a minor role. With acceptance of responsibility, my client ended up with a sentence of 121 months in prison. Although this is still a long time, I was able to cut his sentence in half by convincing the court of the role reduction. It is always important for attorneys to file the right objections to both the facts in the presentence report and to the conclusions drawn by the probation officer. It seems lately that a lot of the probation officers do not like to recommend a role reduction, and quite frankly, they usually look for ways to increase the defendant's sentence. Unfortunately, Judge Martin has been elevated to the 11th Circuit bench. While she is a wonderful addition to the circuit, it is a great loss to the district court. We can only hope that she can impress upon her new colleagues her sense of fairness and pragmatism.