A: No. You have a Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and a Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Even if you think your statements won’t hurt, it can still be used against you.

A: Request a copy of the warrant, do not consent for them to search anything outside of the warrant, step aside and allow them to conduct their search, and assert your Right to Remain Silent. After they are finished, call my office so we can discuss next steps.

A: It depends. There is no black and white answer to this, as sometimes it depends on the government’s ongoing investigation, including whether the process for you started after an FBI raid or after you’ve been indicted. So, it’s hard to say. But it is not a short process under most circumstances. 

A: You have a right to a bail in most cases and most judges will allow for a pretrial release with strict guidelines, but there are occasions where a judge may require a defendant to remain in custody until trial. 

A: Maybe. The court decides what conditions you may have, which sometimes include surrendering your passport. The court may allow your pretrial release to include attending religious services, but this should be clear to you once you are on pretrial release. 

A: No. Under any circumstances when you’re being investigated or if you’ve been indicted, should you ever reach out to the witnesses. Not speaking with co-defendants is usually a condition of pretrial release. While the lawyers for each of the defendants may speak and have an agreement in place, it is not wise for the defendants to also speak amongst themselves. Leave this to your lawyer. 

A: A judge must calculate the guideline range and then decide a sentence using the factors under the federal statute for imposing sentences. The United States Sentencing Commission has established guidelines to determine that range and it starts from the base offense level and goes through a variety of levels that may include a person’s role in the offense, criminal history, or whether there are multiple counts.

There are departure provisions that will allow the range to depart upward or downward and that can include extreme conduct or repeated criminal history for upward departures, to proffers and diminished capacity for downward departures.

A: A proffer is an off-the-record information dump that allows a defendant (sometimes through their attorney) to inform the government’s attorneys and agents about the offense and related conduct. 

Sometimes a proffer is negotiated so that the defendant is then given immunity from prosecution (absent independent evidence under Kastigar) or it may assist the defendant in having sentencing leverage when it’s time for the judge to pronounce sentencing.

Think “Queen for the day.”

A: Not usually. There may be times when I represent your employer and have to speak with employees regarding the matter that I am representing the employer. But, that does not mean I am automatically the employee’s lawyer. I will tell you this upfront before we get started with what’s called an Upjohn warning.

A: In federal court, you appear before a magistrate judge and are given the complaint or indictment, plus a summary of the charges. The magistrate then may allow release on the least restrictive conditions balancing safety of the community and whether the accused will show up. If the government is seeking detention, then a hearing is typically set within three days (though counsel can request five). 

State court is similar in that one may appear before a magistrate first or they can first appear in the court where their case is assigned. The accused is then given statutory warnings and the prosecutor must present probable cause so that a finding of such is found within 48 hours of being arrested on a felony. This is different from an arraignment, which could happen later.

A: Yes, but usually only complex state criminal matters. If you have a state criminal case, please call my office so we can discuss.