Sentencing Hearings are one of the things I handle often as a criminal defense lawyer here in Atlanta and other parts of the country. I also write occasionally about how the press and criminal cases intersect, and the increasing abdication by the press when they simply re-print whatever “press release”…
Articles Posted in Sentencing
Criminal Defense Lawyers in Atlanta and Elsewhere Grapple with Unfair Sentencing Guidelines
I’m working on a case with a very talented Atlanta-based criminal defense lawyer. Our clients were accused of and later convicted for fraud involving several businesses. These are a somewhat different type of white collar offense, for some of the crimes are what we call “securities fraud”, meaning fraudulent conduct…
Federal Sentencing Hearings: Supreme Court Issues Two Rulings
Most readers know that I am an Atlanta-based lawyer who handles lots of federal sentencing hearings, along with just about all other aspects of representing people and companies who are investigated or prosecuted for federal crimes. Because of my work, I try to keep tabs on developments in the court…
How Can My Client Pay the Victims If the Judge Puts Him or Her in Jail: Appellate Court Reverses Sentence When Judge Jails Defendant Unable to Pay
We represent lots of people convicted of federal white collar crimes, and in many of these cases, our clients have defrauded or caused losses to individual or institutional victims. We always try to have our client pay back to any victim as early as possible, if the client was truly…
Federal Sentencing Hearings: Sometimes You Lose When You Win
We handle lots of federal criminal cases. Many of our cases end up with a sentencing hearing. At the sentencing hearing, a federal judge decides what kind of punishment to impose on our client. A case yesterday from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reminds us…
Getting a lower sentence in a federal criminal case by using proposed amendments to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines
Readers know that we handle lots of federal criminal cases, in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and throughout the country. I just finished a sentencing this afternoon in which we got a lower sentence by pointing the Judge to some proposed changes to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Along with some other factors,…
Restitution for Federal Crimes: Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case Involving Money Owed by Defendant Involved in Mortgage Fraud
Federal criminal cases often result in a Defendant being sentenced to jail time, as well as being ordered to pay “restitution”. A 1996 law called the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (or “MVRA”) says that when the victim of a crime is entitled to restitution for the loss of “property”, and…
Federal Criminal Case Sent Back to Lower Court for New Sentencing Hearing: The Importance (Again) of Having a Lawyer Who Knows When to Object
Any casual reader of this blog knows that I regularly discuss how important it is for people facing criminal charges to have an attorney who is creative, who is willing to fight for his or her client, and who knows when to “object” in court. Some lawyers fail to recognize…
Restitution in Federal Criminal Cases: Georgia Appellate Court Reverses For Improper Procedure
Readers are aware that we do lots of federal criminal cases, and that many of our white collar matters sometimes result in a sentencing hearing. In federal court, some lawyers not accustomed to the often arcane rules fail to appreciate the intricate procedures found in the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act…
U.S. Attorney General Intends to Reduce Mandatory Sentences for Non-Violent, Drug Crimes: Will our Clients in Federal and Georgia Courts See a Change?
Finally, with Monday’s announcement by Eric Holder, we have a public acknowledgment by our country’s top law enforcement official that the War on Drugs and its policies, implemented since the 1970’s, have failed. Holder went further than to offer an empty statistic. He basically stated that the U.S. has not…