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Defense attorneys have filed an appeal on behalf of a Utah man sentenced to 150 months in prison after being convicted on 15 counts of perjury. The defendant claims his sentence is more than six times the typical sentence handed down in perjury cases.

Homicide-Related Case

A federal jury convicted Timmy Brent Olsen, 29, last year of perjury in a homicide-related case. Olsen has been charged with the murder of 15-year-old Kiplyn Davis, who disappeared in May 1995. He is currently awaiting trial on the murder charges.

In the perjury case, however, Olsen’s attorneys argue that the “United States essentially seeks to punish Olsen as if he were guilty of murder. The fact remains that he was prosecuted only for perjury.”

Evidentiary Standards

U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Greene imposed the sentence using a “preponderance” evidentiary standard, which only requires a strong likelihood that something be true as opposed to the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard.

Federal sentencing guidelines only require the preponderance of evidence standard, but Jeremy Delicino and Stephen McCaughey, defense attorneys for Olsen, are asking the appeals court to require a higher standard of proof since the sentence is being based on another crime for which the defendant has not been found guilty.

“If the government desires to punish the defendant for his alleged role in a murder, it has ample opportunity to do so in a separate proceeding,” the appeal states.

(Source: The Salt Lake Tribune online)

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