DOJ Target Letters

You received a target letter from the U.S. Attorney’s office. You’re freaked out. You Googled “What should I do if I received a target letter?” and you’re now reading one of the four articles that came up on your screen. Those four articles tell you to remain calm and hire a criminal defense lawyer. We’re not going to tell you to remain calm and we’re not going to tell you to hire a lawyer. We’re going to tell you what the Department of Justice Manual says and then we’re going to tell you what you should do. The other four articles you’re reading don’t know what the Manual says because they haven’t taken the time to read it. We have. First and foremost, you need to understand what a target letter is and is not. A target letter is not a formality.

It is a decision made by the Department of Justice. More specifically, the Manual states that “a person becomes a target when a prosecutor or grand jury has substantial evidence linking that person to the commission of a crime and the prosecutor has specifically determined that person is a putative defendant in the case.” So, your target status is based solely on the judgment of one Assistant U.S. Attorney. You cannot move to dismiss that determination because the AUSA’s determination is not made by a court of law. The Manual states that “in appropriate cases” prosecutors should inform potential targets that they have become targets of a grand jury investigation. The “appropriate cases” language is critical to understanding what you should do next.

Why? Because the Manual goes on to state that it is not appropriate to notify putative targets “in routine cases in which the evidence of guilt is clear, or in cases where notification may alert the target to flee or otherwise destroy evidence.” Therefore, the government has made a determination that the evidence against you is not clear and you are not a flight risk. Rather, the AUSA most likely wants something from you. This is the most important time in the case and most people waste it.