Dallas, Texas Jun 1, 2021 (Issuewire.com) - Joshua Bevill was sentenced to 90 years in federal prison (30 years to be served) for a relatively minor nonviolent crime.
If one Googles Joshua Bevill and reads the articles that come up online, one would believe that Joshua was convicted of running a large-scale fraud that comprised millions of dollars. This is misleading. Joshua was convicted of making misrepresentations to three high-net-worth investors which resulted in a combined loss of $106,000. That is $106 thousand, not millions.
To inflate the perceived size of his securities fraud by a multiple of 40, the court sentenced him for crimes that he was never charged with, tried for, or convicted of. Worse still, the uncharged crimes allegedly occurred some 8 years before the conduct in Joshua's present case even began. Even worse still, the uncharged crimes had absolutely no relation to Joshua's crime of conviction.
In other words, Joshua was convicted of a relatively minor nonviolent white-collar offense, but he was sentenced for entirely separate uncharged, untried crimes that weren't even remotely related to his crime.
There's a legal loophole in federal court that allows courts to add years to a defendant's prison sentence for uncharged conduct that was related to the crime of conviction in that the defendant carried it out in the course of committing his crime of conviction. In Joshua's case, this legal loophole was exploited, which produced a punitive prison sentence that is grotesquely disproportionate to Joshua's crime: making misrepresentations to three high-net-worth investors, causing a combined loss of $106,000.
About 8 years before Joshua's crime of conviction, he worked for The Pointer Group as a low-level salesman. He worked at the company for 3 months. He had no managerial duties. He made very little, less than 1 percent of the total money raised. The company as a whole raised millions from investors, most of which occurred either before or after Bevil's brief employment. Neither Bevill nor the owners were ever charged with a crime. These unrelated, uncharged crimes that allegedly occurred some 8 years before Bevill's present case were used to increase his U.S. Sentencing Guideline range by 80 years, from 5 years in prison to 85 years in prison, the difference of a lifetime.
There is no parole in the federal system. Bevill has been in prison for more than a decade. And he is on a quest to garner support for a Clemency grant from the President of the U.S.
Additionally, because of this same legal loophole, Joshua was sentenced twice for the same conduct. Joshua's case is an unprecedented and brazen abuse of this dangerous legal loophole.
To read more about Joshua's case please visit http://thejusticeprojecttexas.com/
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