This Friday in Atlanta there is the 26th annual seminar here in Atlanta for criminal defense lawyers. I was asked to talk about civil asset forfeiture, and how that often accompanies or is parallel to a criminal case. Here is the paper that is the subject of my presentation. Asset Forfeiture…
Our friendly federal court of appeals here in Atlanta issued a recent opinion about evidence in a case arising out of a federal prosecution that reminded me of the funny quote from Blazing Saddles (and earlier movies and stories) about how the bad guys “don’t need no stinking badges.” For the…
In Atlanta I have been asked to give a speech to some lawyers who handle federal criminal cases. The organizers of the seminar asked that I talk about criminal forfeitures. A lot of lawyers are not well acquainted with this ancient form of punishment that is becoming more and more…
The Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments in the case of Kaley v. United States, a case concerning pretrial restraint of assets that prevented the Defendants from hiring counsel of their choice. I previously discussed the issues in the case here and here. As a quick recap, the Kaleys were under…
Defending federal crimes is always difficult, whether the client is a “white collar” defendant charged with fraud or whether prosecutors charge other crimes, like drug violations. However, the defense is made more difficult in federal court by virtue of the prosecutor’s ability to sometimes freeze and then forfeit all of…
When we handle federal criminal cases here in Atlanta, Georgia and in other parts of the country, our clients often face criminal penalties along with possible forfeiture of their property. Lawyers often forget how important these financial penalties can be. A recent case from the United States Court of Appeals…
Our local Federal Court of Appeals, sitting just down the street from our offices here in Atlanta, yesterday reversed a federal criminal conviction for obstruction of justice. The prosecutors contended that the defendant tried to obstruct a forfeiture matter. The Eleventh Circuit joined other courts and relied on some earlier…