Federal Crimes

Most federal crimes involve conduct or contraband crossing state lines, such as the following:

• Large-scale narcotics conspiracies
• Threats against public officials
• Bribery of public officials
• Fraud via the mail system, computers, or telephones
• Fraud involving public and private health care facilities
• Possession, manufacture, or distribution of obscene materials or child pornography
• Money laundering
• Tax evasion
• Computer crimes

You should never consider representing yourself in a federal case. Federal prosecutors are better prepared and have markedly better courtroom skills than overworked state prosecutors, and the FBI, DEA, and Secret Service have many more resources at their disposal than the state or local police. If you have been charged with a federal crime, you need an experienced criminal defense attorney representing you.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the federal and state systems is the federal sentencing guidelines. These guidelines control the judge's decision and determine how much jail or prison time a convicted person must serve. Federal sentencing is based more on math than on judicial discretion: the potential prison term is calculated using a grid that factors in the defendant's criminal history and the details of the present offense.

These guidelines are so complex that a skilled defense attorney is absoutely required to interpret them. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals recently explained that "familiarity with the structure and basic content of the [Federal Sentencing] Guidelines... has become a necessity for [defense] counsel who seek to give effective representation." The court also stated, "Whether [defense] lawyers get the Guidelines wrong by misinterpreting the implication of a particular provision or by failing altogether to raise a potentially helpful provision, such drastic missteps...amount to errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the 'counsel' guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment."

If you have been charged with a federal crime and want an experienced, confident, quick-thinking defense attorney on your side, call Marshall Law PC at (619) 298-5778 for a consultation.