Prosecutors challenge review panels that can reduce sentences

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ATLANTA --Georgia's prosecutors have already persuaded lawmakers to phase out a judicial panel that reviews and sometimes reduces prison sentences. Now a former district attorney is going for a complete victory.

In a legal challenge that could affect the sentences of dozens of inmates whose sentences have been shortened by the panel, the Georgia Supreme Court will consider Monday whether the three-judge panels are constitutional.

Former District Attorney J. Brown Moseley said he challenged the law because he was so outraged by the "knuckle-head judges" who reduced the sentence for Sandra Widner, whose manslaughter sentence was shortened from 15 years to eight.

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Prosecutors and defense attorneys have long been at odds over the review panels, created three decades ago by lawmakers who said they could foster more uniformity across Georgia in criminal sentencing.

Macon