Category Archives/Archivos de la categoría: Articles

This is a portion of a letter I sent to an attorney in Colombia and Mexico that may be of interest to those of you unfamiliar with the federal criminal process. My explanation of the process begins after the defendant’s attorney receives the evidence from the government and engages in plea negotiations with the prosecutor:

After […]

Once there was a fellow who was arrested for three kilos of cocaine in his house in the 70’s when the “tough on crime” drug laws were in vogue. Every politician wanted to be tougher than the next. Now, this quantity would have resulted in a defendant getting 5 years at most, maybe seven if […]

A reader complained of his extradition saying he should not have been extradited and wanted to bring that up to the Federal hearing his case. Waste of time. The United States doesn’t care how it gets you. The U.S. government has kidnapped people and it is ok. The rule of law in the U.S. is […]

A reader complained of an illegal search in his home country of Colombia.  He wants to know what he can do about it in the United States. Nothing. If you are not a U.S. citizen and you suffer an illegal search in your own country, you do not have the protection to be free from […]

I get a lot of complaints about this: out of State lawyers not visiting their clients. My response: It is your own fault. If I had a case in Bogota, I would not get a lawyer from Cali or vice versa. If I had a case in New York, I would not get a lawyer from […]

Dimitrios Skaftouros (“Skaftouros”) was wanted in Greece on murder charges. A Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York certified him as extraditable, but the decision was overturned by a District Court judge who denied the extradition.

The Government appealed and the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit […]

The guidelines are a sentencing scheme by which levels are accorded to different factors such as the nature of the crime, the amount of drugs or money involved in the crime, the role played by the defendant in the crime, and whether he “accepted responsibility” which is looked upon favorably. Each factor determines levels and […]

Taking a case to trial after the client has “proffered” (spoken to the prosecutor) is difficult. Most proffer agreements have a clause permitting the government to introduce the defendant’s proffer statements to rebut evidence offered or elicited, or factual assertions made by, the defense. In United States v. Barrow, 400 F.3d 109 (2d Cir. 2005), […]

In United States v. Rodriguez, No. 10-2724-cr (2d Cir. August 25, 2011), a defendant, while detained at the MDC in New York, called his sister and asked her to tell their brother to contact defendant’s attorney so that they could discuss whether he should “cop out” before being indicted. He indicated that the […]

United States v. Archer, No. 10-4684-cr (2d Cir. September 20, 2011), a case involving fraud by an attorney, brought up a particularly interesting discussion of the procedures for sentencing issues upon returning a case to the trial court for reconsideration of sentence. The “consensus” among the other circuits is “where the government knew […]

In United States v. Leslie,  (2d Cir.October 3, 2011) the court rejected the argument that a defendant’s incarceration stannding alone, should be treated as a withdrawal from the conspiracy for sentencing purposes.

Defendant was serving a bank fraud sentence in 2005, but during his incarceration others continued the scheme. In 2009, Leslie was transferred to federal […]