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The Loomis Case: The Use of Proprietary Algorithms at Sentencing (2017)

Four years ago, a La Crosse man received a maximum sentence for attempting to flee an officer and operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent, entering a guilty plea on both charges. The sentence included a six-year prison term.

What irked the defendant, Eric Loomis - and what he eventually argued in a petition for review to the U.S. Supreme Court - was that the sentencing judge had used a private company’s proprietary software to help determine his fate.

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