Category: Federal Sentencing
A Tiny Crack in the Wall?
Federal sentencing proceedings have a long and rich history of including every speck of good and bad that a defendant brings to the table. Unlike the trial itself, there are no Rules of Evidence that apply to keep the factfinder from considering unreliable or unproven information. The judge need only find facts by a preponderance… Read More
Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein to Make First Supreme Court Appearance in Sentencing Case, Even as Rumors Continue to Swirl of Potential Firing
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will be arguing before the Supreme Court today for the first time in his nearly thirty-year government career even as rumors abound that Donald Trump is talking about firing him to cut off investigations into his administration’s Russia ties. Although the United States is usually represented before the Supreme… Read More
DOJ’s New Charging and Sentencing Policy Will Disproportionately Impact Vulnerable Populations
On May 10, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memorandum that expressly rescinds previous Department of Justice (DOJ) policy and directs federal prosecutors to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” against federal defendants. The likely result of this harsher approach to the enforcement of federal drug laws is a return to… Read More
When A Threat Becomes A Crime
A Miami Beach man was recently accused of threatening President Trump on Twitter. He sent the threat directly to Secret Service, challenging them to stop his Inauguration Day surprise. They did, and Dominic Puopolo, who used the screen name of Lord Jesus Christ, is now in federal custody. Sending a threat to the President, to an ex-wife,… Read More
Even Bad Guys Have Rights
This article first appeared February 29, 2016, on FEE.org – you can access this version here. Remember Martin Shkreli, the “pharma bro” notorious for raising the price of his company’s life-saving drug by some 5,000 percent? Did you know he was recently arrested for securities fraud (completely unrelated to the drug hike)? It didn’t take long… Read More
DOJ uses White Collar Prosecution for Election-Season Rabble Rousing
Beating their chests and breathing fire to rouse the polity, the Department of Justice recently came out with an announcement as earth shattering as the sun rising. The DOJ proclaimed it has adopted new policies to prioritize the prosecution of individuals for white-collar crime. Deputy Attorney General, Sally Q. Yates, was quoted in the New… Read More
SCOTUS Rules No Felony for Throwing the Little Ones Overboard
This week, the United States Supreme Court resolved some fishy matters on which prosecutors sought to base a federal felony conviction. The case, Yates v. United States, arose from a offshore inspection of a commercial fishing vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. During the inspection, a federal agent found that the ship’s catch contained undersized… Read More
Court Reins In Prosecutorial Overreach in Insider Trading Cases
In an effort to reinstate powers stripped from them by the Court of Appeals in U.S. v. Newman and Chiasson, prosecutors have sought a rehearing of the landmark Second Circuit decision which severely curtailed the scope of insider trading cases. The case is one which has already seen a dramatic reversal, so it is perhaps… Read More
Even Governors Go To Jail
Photo Credit: Steve Helber, AP This afternoon, the long-running saga of Robert McDonnell came to what may be the end (not counting appeals) when the former Virginia Governor was sentenced to serve two years in prison after a jury convicted him of bribery while in office. As with many cases, this one has lessons to… Read More
Ifrah Law Report: Johns Hopkins Symposium on Social Costs of Mass Incarceration
On April 28, 2014, Ifrah Law attorneys Jeff Hamlin and Casselle Smith attended a symposium on incarceration presented by The Johns Hopkins University and its Urban Health Institute. The day–long program focused on adverse impacts of mass incarceration and potential strategies for mitigating them and reversing trends toward continued prison growth. Throughout the day, panels… Read More
