Category: Blog

Our office communicates with hundreds of inmates and their families each week through phone calls, emails and corrlinks.  At least once a day we hear either an inmate or a loved one say that either they wanted to write a letter to the judge explaining their side of the story, they already wrote the letter […]

FACTS:  Lawyer represented health care fraud defendant and also government witness on same case Sheperd was indicted for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.  She retained a lawyer and the case was set for trial.  Her hired counsel met with FBI agents and a prosecutor to discuss the case.  However the lawyer was there acting on […]

On March 7, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Wooden v. United States, case number 20-5279 (2022). At issue in the Wooden case was how to interpret a particular phrase in the ACCA penalty clause found at 18 U.S.C. 924(e). Thankfully, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a good decision today. We are […]

The Justice Department is ceasing a troubling practice after an NPR story shed light on it in February.  Plea agreements that waive the right to seek compassionate release may be coming to an end. The Background:  Plea Agreements and Compassionate Release Most people charged with a crime do not take their case to trial.  The […]

The United States Sentencing Commission has issued a report titled: Compassionate Release: The Impact of the First Step Act and COVID-19 Pandemic. The Commission published a report about the compassionate releases that were sought, granted and denied for fiscal year 2020 (from September of 2019 to September of 2020). There are 7 key findings: Both […]

In the Benton case, the Court determined that “the district court relied on prior convictions that were not identified as predicates in Benton’s presentence report and of which he had no notice at sentencing.” FACTS:  Repeat Offender loses ACCA Challenge Post-Johnson Benton was charged with several charges including a felon in possession of a weapon […]

The United States Sentencing Commission, a non-partisan agency that develops sentencing guidelines for federal criminal cases and takes statistical data for crimes and punishments has developed their annual sourcebook for Fiscal Year 2021. Below are their findings and their fast facts, which is a summary. FY21 Fast Facts The Sourcebook presents information on the 57,287 federal […]

FACTS:  5th Circuit CR case serving life with two 851 convictions In 1992, Ciprano was charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine.  He was convicted and sentenced to life as he had two prior felony drug convictions under 21 USC 841(b).   In 2022, Ciprano filed a compassionate release […]

The Eighth Circuit delivers the end to a cautionary tale about pro-se 2255 filings in Jackson. Facts: 2255 filed by pro se filer after the deadline Jackson was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and was sentenced to 330 months. His appeal was affirmed and his […]

The district of Maryland grants a compassionate release to a person who has both an ACCA enhancement as well as several Stacked 924(c) offenses. FACTS: Bank robber gets mandatory minimum 147 years Graham was charged with six armed robberies spread across four days in 2011. It was alleged that he entered the banks, "brandished a […]