You must mount a strong defense when facing federal criminal charges.
Almost all federal convictions carry prison time. When the federal sentencing guidelines were changed in the late 1980s in an effort to make sentencing fairer across the myriad federal court districts across the country, only sentences involving prison time were used in the sentencing commission's calculations. When drafting the federal sentencing guidelines, the Sentencing Commission practically forgot that probation ever existed. Now, for most federal crimes, you serve prison time and then are put on supervised release. The probation now comes after the sentence, instead of in place of it.
This change and the federal system's speed make a specialized, effective defense necessary from the beginning. In many federal districts, trials are set no more than sixty days from the date of arraignment, and the United States Attorney for that particular district will have only pursued cases they strongly believe they can win. Often times, federal investigations go on for months or years before the case is actually brought to the grand jury for indictment. In many cases, the evidence is voluminous - there are recordings and data records to review, and multiple witnesses to conceivably interview. Counsel familiar with federal criminal procedure and the judicial district's local rules is a must.
At the point of indictment, the government will then determine whether they want you held pending trial. At the detainer hearing, you will have the opportunity to make the case that you have sufficient ties to the community to be trusted to remain free until the trial or plea date. The magistrate or trial judge ultimately decides whether the government's request to hold you pending trial is valid. In practically no cases do you get to exercise your right to a preliminary hearing in criminal federal court before an indictment is handed down.
At the time of indictment, a scheduling order is entered denoting the plea deadline date, motions date, and trial date. Unless something extraordinary happens, the trial judge's scheduling order contains all the hard deadlines on your case. Your defense counsel must not only be knowledgeable, but extremely organized, or else your defense could suffer. The harshness of the federal sentencing guidelines makes any mistake unforgivable. Since your rights are best vindicated at the district court (trial court) level, one should not count on appeal to fix whatever might be go wrong, as the presumption is largely in favor of the government at the appellate stage.
Once charge with a federal crime, it is vital that you retain defense counsel quickly. Delays in your defense only work to make it more likely you will be successfully prosecuted and convicted. Knowing that a conviction in the federal system typically carries with it jail time, ensuring a complete defense ought to be your top priority.
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Nathan Moore is a
Tennessee federal criminal lawyer, specializing entirely in criminal defense law. He is based in Nashville, Tennessee. He also maintains an avid practice as a
Nashville DUI attorney, having successfully defended hundreds of criminal defendants accused of all types of crimes.
