Pcr Consultants

Eric Baird

An Interesting Case On Supervised Release

We’ve written a lot here about federal supervised release and the conditions that allow for a judge to release our clients early from their term of supervision. One of the places we get our information is from a policy document that guides federal probation departments. Monograph 109 This document, called Monograph 109 which is a …

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Federal Sentencing: Criminal History Category

Calculating Criminal History Weight The final piece to sentencing calculations takes into consideration criminal history. Everything from misdemeanor driving crimes (like driving with a suspended license) to prior major felonies, the PSI/R considers the entirety of a defendant’s criminal history. With no criminal history at all, zero points are assigned. Every other instance of past …

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Dimaya Sentence Reductions via §2255

The Sentence Reduction Potential of Dimaya and Johnson On April 17, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States published an opinion in an immigration case called Sessions v. Dimaya. This case caused waves because the left-leaning justices split with right-leaning justices evenly at 4-4 and the deciding vote was the freshman justice Gorsuch. In …

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Federal Sentencing Explained in Plain English

Federal Sentencing Primer After a plea deal is signed, which happens in well over 90% of federal criminal prosecutions, the next phase in a case is sentencing. Most first-time offenders really don’t know exactly how this sentencing is done or considered by federal courts, prosecutors, and judges. While defense attorney’s are supposed to do a …

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28 U.S.C. 2255 Example – A Double Edged Sword

When it Works, Sometimes it Doesn’t In our continuing exploration of 28 U.S.C. §2255 cases, the practice of federal habeas appeals never ceases to be amazing. And confusing. Take, for instance, the case of Howard Handa. 1 United States v. Handa, 122 F.3d 690, (9th Cir. 1997) In this case, defendant Handa was sentenced for …

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Direct Appeal Issues in Federal Court – Plain Error vs. Abuse of Discretion

There are lots of issues that can be raised on direct appeal from an original sentencing hearing or trial. Too many than can be established in one blog post. Lawyers who practice in federal courts spend years litigating cases and studying law at the district level and sometimes at the appeal level. This post gets …

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