Year of the Dragon: Sentencing Guideline New Year’s Cheers & Jeers
Imperfect 10: Why thousands will be deemed ineligible for the ZPO and what to do about it
On Nov 1, the Zero Point offender Amendment to USSG goes into effect. WE CALL IT THE ZIPPO (ZPO). It is retroactive, and thousands facing sentencing and already sentenced should be eligible to have their sentences reduced. BUT what happens if you received a guideline bump under 3B1.1, for being a “leader organizer”? Because of…
Acquitted Conduct Revisited: Mmmmm… Flavors of Evil
WATCH ON YOUTUBE, or LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS, SPOTIFY, or wherever you get your podcasts! If you wanna feel really dim, spend an hour or so trying to debate the fine points of federal constitutional law with Prof. Doug Berman and Mark Allenbaugh. We had to come back to the issue of how the guidelines…
Stewart Rhodes Seditious Conspiracy Sentencing Post-Mortem
After being found guilty of crimes including Seditious Conspiracy, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, leader of the “OathKeepers” was given the longest sentencing to date for any 1/6 defendant. Here, we monday-morning quarterback every aspect of Rhodes’ sentencing. There is much to learn from this one, about guideline issues, written advocacy, allocution, and post-sentencing conditions of confinement. …
Overcoming Impossible Odds at Sentencing (Fearless Lawyering, Vol. 3, with Joel Meyers)
What can you do when your client with two prior felony drug convictions gets arrested and charged for a new and very serious drug trafficking offense? Most lawyers, looking at this history, the substantial weight of drugs involved, a pile of money, and a gun, would resign themselves to epic defeat. This man was facing…
Defending Autism With Mark Mahoney (Pt. 1)
We began this conversation in Ep.5, “Understanding Autism at Sentencing”. But the topic is so important, and so close to my heart and the work that I do, it’s time to dig in deeper. In the first of a two-part episode, we talk with the nation’s premiere criminal defense attorney when it comes to representing…
Who Says You Can’t? Strategies For Creative Lawyering with Jon May
Watch this episode on YOUTUBE, on APPLE PODCASTS, or wherever you get your podcasts! Jon May is a gentleman, a scholar, and a phenomenal criminal defense lawyer based in the Miami area. His new book, Who Says You Can’t? How To Become a More Creative Criminal Defense Lawyer embodies his practice and his prolific writing on various…
Fixing Legal Injustice In America: The Case For A Defender General of the United States
Watch this episode on YOUTUBE, on APPLE PODCASTS, or wherever you get your podcasts! We have an attorney general, who serves as the chief prosecutor for federal or state government. So, why, if we claim to have equal justice under the law do we not have a defense counterpart? Author and attorney extraordinaire, Andrea Lyon, makes the…
PRESUMED GUILTY: Using Acquitted, Dismissed, and Uncharged Conduct to Increase Sentences.
Watch this episode on YOUTUBE, on APPLE PODCASTS, or wherever you get your podcasts! In a perfect world, the presumption of innocence is sacrosanct. If you are found not guilty by a jury, common sense and the constitution dictate that acquitted conduct should not later be used to enhance your sentence on other charges. But in federal…
Trump The Terrorist? Jan. 6 Criminal Referral Sentencing Implications, Viewed Through The Lens Of The Recent Croft/Fox Michigan Militia Sentencings.
Watch this episode on YOUTUBE, on APPLE PODCASTS, or wherever you get your podcasts! Well, January is shaping up to be an all Allenbaugh affair. Although we finished our marathon session on December’s metric ton of high-profile federal sentencings, there was one other bombshell that we couldn’t leave untouched: Congress’s criminal referral to the Dept. of Justice…