Law and Justice

Posts Tagged ‘Defense’

This article provides a brief overview of common marijuana charges in California.  It is critical that anyone charged with a marijuana crime understand the charge and potential defenses to it.

Marijuana crimes are generally divided into three categories: (1) possession, (2) possession for sale and (3) sales. Because these are separate criminal charges with different punishments and defenses it is necessary to examine each charge separately.

Possession of marijuana (Health & Safety Code 11357) is charged when a person possesses marijuana for personal use and not for sale.  Possession of a small amount of marijuana, usually less than 1oz., is a misdemeanor punishable by no more than a $100 fine.  Other marijuana possession charges are misdemeanors, with the exception of possession of hash which can be charged as a felony.  In most cases, people charged with marijuana possession qualify for “drug diversion” which is a drug education program.  If the program is completed the marijuana possession charge is usually dismissed!

Possession of marijuana for sale (Health & Safety Code 11359) is a more serious charge than simple possession.  It is a felony punishable by 16 months, 2 or 3 years in state prison.  “How do the cops and D.A. prove that marijuana was possessed for sale and not for personal use?”  They typically rely on the following types of evidence: defendant has marijuana and baggies or a scale; defendant has marijuana and significant cash; and there is more marijuana than expected for personal use.  Possession for sales charges must be vigorously defended against.  Successful defenses may include (1) insufficient evidence of intent to sell, (2) illegal search and seizure – it is not uncommon for the cops to find marijuana through an illegal search, and (3) showing that even a large quantity of marijuana may be for personal use.

Marijuana sales (Health & Safety Code 11360) is charged when a defendant allegedly sells or transports to sell marijuana or simply offers to do so.  Marijuana sales is generally a felony punishable by a 2, 3 or 4 year prison sentence.  Marijuana sales may be charged from direct evidence of sales – for example a stake out or sting operation – or based on indirect evidence such as a large quantity of marijuana and frequent visitors to a suspected sales premises. A strong defense must be mounted against any marijuana sales charges.  If a an offer to sell was made under duress, as a result of entrapment, based on an illegal search or seizure, or there is otherwise insufficient evidence of actual sales, theses defenses must be raised to challenge the prosecution’s sales charges.

I hope this article has been helpful.

Sincerely,

Garret Weinrieb, Esq.

Valerio | Weinrieb Criminal Defense Attorneys

(note: Information contained within this article is intended for general information purposes only and is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice for any individual case or situation. The information contained within this article is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship and use of this article, and any information contained herein, does not constitute such a relationship.)

Think of your record as you do your credit report. It is direct reflection of who you are, what you have done, and what type of person you are. While some may believe this written reflection of your life is difficult to control, selecting the proper Criminal Defense in a trying time can be the safety net you need to protect your record, your life, and your future.

If you or a loved one has been charged with a Virginia criminal defense, it is imperative that you hire an experienced, aggressive and proven attorney with the reputation and representation you need to fight for your record and your freedom.

Of all of the options available to you for searching for the right Virginia Criminal Attorney to include online searches, classified listings, word of mouth, and even simply visiting your local attorney’s office, ensure you take the time to investigate your attorney. Remember, your attorney works for you – not the other way around. Hire a lawyer with experience on both sides of the bench… with both defense and prosecution experience. This way, you can be sure your representation understands both sides of the argument, and know what to expect when you arrive in court.

Do your research, search for the right attorney, and after you’ve interviewed many Virginia Criminal Attorneys, make your last call to Virginia Criminal Attorney Michael A. Robinson of Robinson Law, PLLC and hire the aggressive defense with proven results you need to fight for your record, and your life.

White Collar Criminal Defense referred to crimes that were being committed by otherwise highly respected and upstanding citizens. Today the description simply implies that the crime was not one of violence. There are literally hundreds of crimes that are considered white collar and the criminals are usually sophisticated, smart and well educated. According to recent F.B.I. reports, the losses to the US exceed 300 billion dollars a year.

Below are some of the many crimes which are considered to be white collar:

* anti-dumping
* antitrust, including price-fixing and bid-rigging
* bank fraud
* bankruptcy crimes
* bribery, gratuities and public corruption
* clemency and pardon applications
* commodities futures trading fraud
* compliance programs
* computer fraud
* congressional investigations and hearings
* currency violations
* customs import and export violations
* debarment from government contracting
* Economic Espionage Act
* environmental crimes
* ERISA violations
* extortion
* extradition
* False Claims Act
* false statements and perjury
* Federal Election Campaign Act
* Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
* health care fraud
* housing fraud
* identity theft
* immigration-related crimes
* impeachment
* insurance-related crimes
* Interstate Travel in Aid of Racketeering Act
* mail fraud
* Medicare fraud
* military courts martial
* money laundering
* obstruction of justice
* OSHA and labor code violations
* passport and visa fraud
* Patriot Act
* procurement fraud
* Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act
* securities fraud
* tax fraud
* trade secrets theft
* wire fraud.

http://www.hardcorecriminaldefense.com

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You’re one anxious big fish. You were the manager of two colossal New York hedge funds, both of which recently and dramatically collapsed, wiping out the assets of thousands of faithful investors. You’re a social pariah, and your stricken wife and kids have moved in with your in-laws. Anybody who recognizes you from the unflattering images plastered on the front pages of the “New York Times” and “Daily News,” including your uppity 5th Avenue doorman, greet you with a sneer.

Far worse is the fact that hordes of young, hungry investigators from the office of Manhattan’s U.S. Attorney are convinced you deliberately misled investors about your funds’ health. They’re loudly alleging you conjured up fraudulent values for the funds’ risky sub-prime securities, and, smelling blood, they’re sifting through myriad records of everything you ever did, said, e-mailed, or twittered. Your bullish public comments, they shrilly declare, cloaked your bearish villainy.

Alone, friendless, and desperate, your mind reels as you think of all the former Wall Street lions rotting on a cot in some cell in federal prison serving 7 to 150. It’s like a “Who’s Who” of corporate titans. Ponzi-scheme genius, Bernie Madoff. Publishing tycoon, Conrad Black. Aldelphia Communications founder, John Rigas. WorldCom CEO, Bernie Ebbers. Tyco’s Dennis Kozlowski. Enron CEO, Jeffrey Skilling. You may become another poster boy for American corporate greed and corruption.

Where’s the out?

The out is a first-class criminal defense attorney.

What Is It?

A white-collar lawyer advises clients about available strategies and options when they’re facing intense scrutiny by a government agency. The most popular white-collar crimes include corporate fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, and individual corruption.

Any short list of high-end white-collar defense attorneys should be composed of former government prosecutors. That is, lawyers who’ve “flipped,” as they say in the under-worldly language of criminal law. It’s these highly skilled attorneys who understand the prosecutorial mindset, and can anticipate the cunning strategies they’ll employ against you.

As much as you might resent these well-dressed law enforcement officials, with their farrago of lies and defamations, you nevertheless want a defense attorney who has a friendly relationship with them. Government prosecutors and agents automatically give more credibility to defense attorneys who’ve forged their legal skills as prosecutorial attack dogs.

Who Needs One?

Big fish.

The government is always looking to catch world-class crooks. Agents and prosecutors always enjoy making a media splash, both to have a profound impact on deterrence, and their careers. This means white-collar crime involving government corruption and big-money corporate fraud are currently at the top of the list.

Benefits

As with all legal issues, the earlier an attorney is brought into the investigation, the better. It’s extremely difficult to fix errors made by the clients through disclosures and interviews with the government agents. The first questions a top-tier white-collar defense attorney will ask is, “What did you say to government investigators?” and “Who else knows about your problem?” It’s critical for your counsel to understand the scope of your problems, and what the universe of your knowledge is. If twenty people know what you’ve been up to, your options are different than if your Golden Retriever is the only one with any knowledge.

An effective white-collar defense attorney will want to know all the facts. It’s impossible to form a defense strategy without fully knowing the obstacles, hurdles, and pitfalls that may be encountered in an investigation or criminal trial. So you’ve made a few errors in judgment. We all do. Any white-collar defense attorney worth his staggering fees will tell you all cases have negative facts. If there were no negative facts, there would be no case. Address them up front or they may come to haunt you. Understanding all the unadulterated facts enables your lawyer to tell a coherent and compelling story in court.

Conversely, often the government does not know all of the facts. Agents and prosecutors put together a story that makes sense to them, but might strike you as creative writing. Bruce Cutler, successfully defending John Gotti Sr. for the second straight time, once dramatically waved the government’s indictment in front of a spellbound jury as if it were a turd, mocking, “This is nothing but a screenplay!”

There will always be facts that undermine the prosecutors’ theory.

Notable white-collar defense attorneys will also stress no conviction is inevitable. Powerful, maniacally driven CEO’s might crash and burn, but how that plays out in court is often unpredictable. Take HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy. He walked in 2005 after being found not guilty of all 36 charges against him in a $2.7-billion accounting fraud case – despite the sworn testimony against him by his five chief financial officers.

A case like Scrushy’s highlights an adept, if simple, defense strategy: blame it all on your employees. A defendant can claim if his own corporate in-house accountants and lawyers raised no flags of improper transactions, then how could he, as CEO, possibly know? As Conrad Black quipped in his Chicago trial, the failure of his employees’ to raise questions was “not a flattering reflection on their thoroughness.” Unfortunately for Black, the prosecutor arguing the fraud, money-laundering, and racketeering case was Patrick Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s U.S. Attorney’s office boasts the highest conviction rate in the nation.

Risks

Since prosecutors often spend years gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses, reviewing documents, and questioning people before a grand jury before requesting an indictment, you can count on the fact that they think they’ll win the case. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t risk squandering their talent and resources.

Consequently, the biggest risk is editing your story for your defense attorney, and short-changing him in providing every conceivable form of documentation, including financial documents, internal memoranda, voicemails, e-mails, and telephone or cell phone records.

You want to be the first to inform your defense attorney of all the cold, hard facts. If the government prosecutor is the first to reliably inform your legal counsel, the potential negative consequences could be devastating.

The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the legal expertise and advice of your attorney. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about litigation with an appropriate legal expert.

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     Federal prison consultants are a valuable part of any white collar criminal defense team. 

     Defense lawyers cannot be expected to know all of the answers to the questions that white collar defendants and their families have.  Federal prison consultants provide the answers to these practical, non-legal questions.  By providing answers, federal prison consultants can reduce the anxiety that everyone faces before entering prison.

     The critical factor when choosing a federal prison consultant is the credibility of their staff.  White Collar Sentencing Consultants, Inc. (located on the web at FederalPrisonInc.com) specializes in important federal criminal cases. 

     You want to know about prison, how to reduce the length of the prison term, and how to ease your transition to and from prison.

     WCSC knows the answers. 

      They use their experience to give you credible, clear, and candid information when it is needed most.

     As federal prison consultants, White Collar Sentencing Consultants, Inc. is unique.  No other company has their dedicated staff.  The heart of the company is a former attorney who has tried over 100 jury trials.  He also recently spent 15 months in Federal Prison where he worked as the Lompoc Camp “clerk” until early 2008.  His duties there included resolving the complaints and problems of over 600 prisoners, with staff contact at all levels of administration.  He can answer your questions and provide guidance through this process with compassion and commitment because he has been there. 

     All federal prison consulting services are available to the clients of White Collar Sentencing Consultants, Inc.  Their services include consulting with White Collar defendants their family and defense counsel, analyzing issues relevant to mitigation of potential sentences, and comparing options such as placement and programs.  They will also describe the strategic alternatives that are available to you.

     All federal prison consulting benefits are available to the clients of White Collar Sentencing Consultants, Inc.  These benefits include calmer and more informed clients, better utilization of attorney time and credible answers from a credible resource.

     Learn what you need to know.  And do it now, when it can still help you.  White Collar Sentencing Consultants, Inc.  provide federal prison consulting and they can be found on the web at FederalPrisonInc.com. 

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