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 …
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 …
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 …
Post-Sentencing in a Federal Criminal Case Now what? Now a defendant can feel like they are blowing in the wind without an advocate to guide them through this difficult period. Many prison consultants make a lot of money just telling people what to expect when they get to prison. We do that, too, but more …
The Pre-Sentence Investigation Report This document, written by the local Probation Department, is usually abbreviated as the PSI or PSR. Either way you hear it said, it is referring to the same document. We will pick PSI and use that for the purposes of this write-up. The PSI is always sealed and only available to …
Federal Sentencing: Enhancements and Mitigations Read More »
Part 1: Base Offense Levels The first part of this series will focus on the foundation of a federal sentence. It is referred to as the “Base Offense Level” and is where the calculations of a federal sentence recommendation starts. This is, by a wide margin, the most simple piece to federal sentencing. All federal …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Direct Appeal Issues in Federal Court – Plain Error vs. Abuse of Discretion Read More »
How to file a §2255 Motion? **Update** For all questions and issues concerning the recent Supreme Court decision in Sessions v. Dimaya, and how that could reduce sentences for current federal inmates who have otherwise exceeded their 1-year window, please click here. This is a very big question to answer, but the question that …
