Virtual Training Event Description
The U.S. Sentencing Commission has issued amendments to the sentencing guidelines that will become effective November 1, 2025, unless Congress disapproves them. This webinar focuses on a set of amendments the Commission calls “Simplification of the Three-Step Process.” The Commission is eliminating what is now the second step of a three-step process: Commission-approved “departures.” As amended, the Guidelines Manual will provide a two-step process: (1) correctly calculate the applicable guideline range and then (2) determine an appropriate sentence upon consideration of all the factors set forth by Congress in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). After this webinar, attendees will understand why the Sentencing Commission made this change, how the new Manual will look, and how we can use the change to get lower sentences for our clients.
Unlocking the Sentencing Guidelines, a Virtual Series: Session 17 - 2025 Guideline Amendments – Eliminating departures & elevating 3553(a) factors
Presenter Biography
Shelley Fite is an attorney with the National Sentencing Resource Counsel Project of the Federal Public & Community Defenders. Shelley was born and raised in Florida, she has spent her professional career in Wisconsin as a public defender of one kind or the other and is based in Madison, Wisconsin. After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2006 and clerking with U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, Shelley worked first an appellate attorney with Wisconsin's State Public Defender and then an associate federal defender with Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin. She joined the Sentencing Resource Counsel Project in March of 2021.
Cherrelle Herbert is an attorney with the National Sentencing Resource Counsel (SRC), a project of the Federal Public and Community Defenders. Prior to working with SRC, Cherrelle worked as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the District of Puerto Rico and as an Assistant Public Defender in Miami-Dade, Florida. Cherrelle earned her J.D. from Cardozo Law School and her B.A. from Stanford University. She is originally from the Virgin Islands, where she now resides. Cherrelle has presented at the National Seminar for Federal Public Defenders, the Multi-Track Federal Criminal Defense Seminar, and for various CJA panels.
CLE Applicable Event
VIRTUAL PROGRAM:
This is a virtual program. Defender Services Office Training Division, (DSOTD), generally seeks CLE accreditation for participants and faculty attending virtual programs. CLE for this program will be sought in all applicable jurisdictions. However, actual CLE approval is at the discretion of each bar association/organization. Notably, you must attend the entire virtual program to receive full CLE credit. To minimize reporting fees per attorney/program, if you are barred in more than one of the following states: NM, TN, PA, NE, attendance will be reported to one state only. Attorneys are responsible for making sure the appropriate state and bar number is on file with DSOTD. For states that require DSOTD to report attendance, attendance will be reported using the bar number(s) and state(s) listed on the registration form submitted for this virtual program. Failure to provide a state and bar number may result in DSOTD not being able to report your attendance. Within 30 days of the completion of this virtual program, DSOTD staff will send attendees a post program email with a CLE information sheet detailing the amount of CLE credit approved by each state, a uniform certificate of attendance and a program agenda. If you have further CLE questions about this program, please contact the DSOTD contact listed above. For general CLE questions, visit our CLE information center or email DSO_CLEAdmin@ao.uscourts.gov.
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