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In the Courts

BY ALM Staff
November 25, 2013

'Unfettered Discretion' to Require Sworn Allocution

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On Oct. 15, in United States v. Ward, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit addressed whether requiring a sworn allocution violated Rule 32 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Ward, –F.3d—, 2013 WL 5614213, *3 (3d. Cir. 2013). Rule 32(i)(4) provides that the court must “address the defendant personally in order to permit the defendant to speak or present any information to mitigate the sentence.” While both sworn and unsworn allocutions have been referenced in prior precedent, no court had yet addressed whether requiring a defendant to take an oath prior to allocution would impinge on the defendant's rights under Rule 32. Id. at *4. After a lengthy discussion of the legal and historical underpinnings of the rule, the Third Circuit concluded that there is no right to deliver an unsworn allocution and that sentencing courts have “unfettered discretion” to decide whether unsworn allocutions will be permitted. Ward

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