Have You Been Charged With A Serious Crime?
Clemency is the act of showing mercy. It is a criminal justice reform tool that governors and presidents can use to overturn unjust sentences. There are two main ways to grant clemency: pardoning or commuting sentences. A pardon grants immunity to a guilty person,...
Money laundering is a complex white-collar crime. It involves intentionally falsifying information about the origins of someone's financial resources. Typically, a business capable of securing a legitimate source of income cooperates with those who have illicit funds...
Being investigated, prosecuted, and convicted by a federal court is never a pleasant experience. The long and drawn-out process can wear a person down without ever having a prison sentence imposed on them. But the real anguish comes at sentencing, when a convicted...
Several years ago, Edward Snowden made national news when he declared that the United States population was under surveillance by the NSA. While the legality of that revelation has generated no small amount of controversy itself, the programs he brought to light also...
On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court held that the "residual phrase" of the Armed Career Criminal Act, which provides a five-year increase in imprisonment for crimes involving conduct that presents a serious risk of physical injury, is unconstitutional. This decision...
All crimes charged in federal court are governed by the United States Sentencing Guidelines ("guidelines"). These guidelines are created by the United States Sentencing Commission, which was created by Congress in the 1980's. The Guidelines were created in an attempt...
When an individual is convicted of a felony, he or she loses his right to lawfully possess firearms. If an individual is convicted of a felony drug offense or other felony, he is barred by federal law from possessing guns. The recent Supreme Court case Henderson v....
Earlier this year, federal agents were alerted to the transport of a large quantity of ecstasy, otherwise known as MDMA, on the New York side of the Canadian border. Based on information provided by a confidential informant, the transfer of over 400 grams of MDMA was...
This blog entry is intended to highlight a part of the law that usually confuses people - words. Please read it as a cautionary tale, keeping in mind that sometimes it takes the Supreme Court of the United States to determine the meaning of a statute in a criminal law...
Drug smuggling has been a part of American culture for a long time. Drug use took off in the late 1960s when middle class Americans changed their perspective on drug use, taking it from taboo to fashionable. Drugs became an appendage of social rebellion and protest...