Criminal Defense Lawyers

Los Angeles Federal Criminal Defense Lawyers

The Central District of California handles more federal criminal cases than any other district in the country. Twenty million people. Seventeen thousand cases filed every year. And here’s the part that should terrify you: the judge randomly assigned to your case determines your fate more than the evidence does. Some judges in this district depart below sentencing guidelines 60% of the time. Others only depart 10% of the time. Same crime. Same facts. Different judge. Wildly different outcome. This is the lottery you’re playing when you face federal charges in Los Angeles.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to give you real information about federal criminal defense in Los Angeles – not the sanitized version you find on other websites. We believe you deserve to understand exactly what you’re facing before you make decisions that could determine whether you spend years in federal prison. Todd Spodek founded this firm on one principle: clients deserve the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. And the truth about federal prosecution in LA is deeply uncomfortable.

Only 2% of federal defendants go to trial. The other 98% plead guilty. This isn’t because they’re all guilty. It’s because the system is designed to make going to trial economically and strategically irrational. Defendants who exercise their constitutional right to trial receive sentences three times longer than those who plead guilty. The government calls this the “trial penalty” and pretends it doesn’t exist. Every federal defense attorney in Los Angeles knows it’s real. Only 320 out of nearly 80,000 federal defendants in a single year went to trial and won. Fewer than 1%. That’s the math you’re dealing with.

The Largest Federal Court in America – And What That Means For You

Heres the thing about the Central District of California that most people don’t realize. It’s not just big – it’s the largest federal judicial district by population in the entire country. Seven counties. Twenty million people. Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Ventura. The federal courthouse on First Street in downtown LA processes more cases than almost any other building in the federal system.

But size doesn’t mean more resources for defendants. It means the opposite. More cases mean more pressure on prosecutors to resolve cases quickly. More cases mean more pressure on defendants to plead guilty and move the docket. More cases mean your individual situation gets less attention unless you fight for it. The assembly line is always running, and it wants to process you through as fast as possible.

Think about what this actually means for your case. Assistant US Attorneys in the Central District carry massive caseloads. Federal public defenders are overwhelemed. The magistrate judges who handle initial appearances see dozens of defendants per day. In this environment, your case is a file number unless someone makes it more than that. A private defense attorney who knows the judges, knows the prosecutors, and knows how to slow down the machine can change your entire trajectory.

Todd Spodek has handled federal cases across multiple districts, and the pattern is always the same. The system wants efficiency. The system wants guilty pleas. The system doesn’t particularly care whether the outcome is just – it cares whether the outcome is achieved. Your job is to disrupt that momentum.

The Judge Lottery That Determines Your Fate

OK so let’s talk about something nobody wants to admit. In federal court, the judge assigned to your case matters more than almost anything else. And that assignment is basicly random.

The Central District of California has 28 active district judges spread across three divisions – Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and Riverside. When your case gets filed, a computer assigns you to one of these judges. That random assignment will shape everything that happens next. Some judges are known as “government judges” who rarely depart from sentencing guidelines. Others are “defense-friendly” and regularly give below-guidelines sentences. Some judges will entertain creative arguments. Others want you to plead and move on.

I’ve seen cases where identical conduct produced wildly different outcomes based purely on which judge got assigned. One defendant gets a judge who departs below guidelines 60% of the time – they received probation. Another defendant with the same facts gets a judge who only departs 10% of the time – they serve five years in federal prison. Same crime. Same federal guidelines calculation. Different judge. Different life.

Heres the hidden system revelation nobody talks about. Experienced federal defense attorneys know these judges. They know which judges are receptive to which arguments. They know which judges hate which types of cases. They know the judges’ former careers, their judicial philosophies, their pet peeves. This institutional knowledge doesn’t guarantee success, but it changes how you approach every motion, every hearing, every negotiation.

Your lawyer’s relationship with your specific judge matters more than their general reputation. A celebrity attorney who’s never appeared before your assigned judge might actualy hurt you. An attorney who handles cases in front of that judge every month knows exactly what works and what doesn’t.

Why the FBI Raid Isn’t The Beginning

Most people think the federal case starts when the FBI shows up at their door. This is completly wrong. The raid isn’t the beginning – it’s the middle.

By the time federal agents execute a search warrant at your home or business, they’ve been investigating for six to twelve months. Sometimes longer. While you were living your normal life, they were pulling bank records. Interviewing witnesses. Reviewing financial documents. Building probable cause. Coordinating with the IRS Criminal Investigation division, HSI, the DEA. When one federal agency opens a file on you, the others already have access. It’s a coordinated machine, and you’ve been inside it for months before anyone knocked on your door.

Think about what this means. Every document you produced during that time. Every email you sent. Every conversation you had with business partners who might be cooperating. All of it is potentialy in the governments hands already. The raid is when they collect physical evidence and sometimes try to get statements from you. But the case – the real case – has been building while you were oblivious.

Heres what happens when the FBI shows up. They have a search warrant. They might have arrest warrants. They take whatever the warrant specifies. They might try to interview you on the spot – and anything you say becomes evidence. Then they leave, and you sit there wondering what happens next.

What happens next is this: the agents compile everything they seized. They add it to what they already had. They submit the package to federal prosecutors who decide wheather to charge. The fact that agents got a search warrant dosent automaticaly mean youll be charged. The standard for a warrant is probable cause. The standard for conviction is beyond reasonable doubt. Those are different standards. Some raids produce nothing useable. Some raids confirm what prosecutors already suspected. Some raids lead to charges months later after additional investigation.

The worst mistake you can make is talking to agents without an attorney. They seem friendly. They’re just trying to “clear things up.” What they’re actualy doing is gathering evidence. Every word you say gets written down. If you contradict documents they already have, that’s evidence of consciousness of guilt. If you lie, that’s a seperate federal crime under 18 USC 1001.

The Trial Penalty Nobody Talks About

The Constitution guarantees your right to trial by jury. What nobody tells you is that exercising this right comes with a massive penalty if you lose.

Trial sentences in federal court are aproximately three times longer then plea sentences for identical conduct. Sometimes the difference is seven to nine years added to your sentence. This isn’t accident – its policy. The federal system is designed to encourage guilty pleas, and it works. Ninety-eight percent of federal defendants plead guilty becuase the math makes trial irrational.

Lets break down how this works. If you plead guilty early and “accept responsibility,” you get a two to three level reduction under the federal sentencing guidelines. That typically translates to a 25-35% shorter sentence. But if you go to trial and lose – which happens 97% of the time – you don’t get that reduction. Plus you’ve annoyed the judge by “wasting court resources.” The trial penalty isn’t officially acknowledged, but every defense attorney knows its real.

Heres the consequence cascade nobody mentions. Going to trial → losing (statistically almost certain) → no acceptance of responsibility credit → trial penalty applied → judge frustrated at “wasted” time → sentence at high end of guidelines or above. Every step of that cascade was predicable. The system is designed to produce exactly this outcome.

So what do you do? You have a constitutional right to trial that effectively punishes you for using it. This is the uncomfortable truth about federal criminal defense. Your not deciding whether your innocent or guilty. Your deciding how much risk your willing to accept. A 1% chance of acquittal versus a guaranteed shorter sentence. That’s the calculation. It’s brutal. It’s also reality.

The Pretrial Detention Trap

Heres something most people don’t realize. Being released pretrial – getting bail – reduces your eventual sentence by aproximately 67%. Read that number again. Sixty-seven percent.

The research on this is clear. Defendants who are detained before trial recieve substantialy longer sentences then defendants who are released. Why? Multiple reasons. Detained defendants can’t work, so they lose there jobs. They can’t meet with attorneys as easily, so there defense suffers. There under pressure to resolve the case quickly so they can get out, so they accept worse plea deals. The detention itself creates desperation that leads to worse outcomes.

But getting released in federal court is harder then state court. Federal judges can detain you if they find your a flight risk or a danger to the community. Drug cases often trigger automatic detention hearings. Cases involving violence almost always result in detention. And once your detained, the cascade begins.

Detained pretrial → lose job → can’t pay rent → family loses housing → desperation to resolve case quickly → accept worse plea deal → serve 67% longer sentence then if you had been released. This is how the system works. Detention isn’t just uncomfortable – it actively harms your case outcome.

The judges who decide bail look at specific factors. Your ties to the community. Your criminal history. The nature of the charges. Your employment. Your family situation. A skilled defense attorney can present these factors in the most favorable light possible. Sometimes the difference between detention and release comes down to how effectively your attorney argues at the initial hearing.

The Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA holds federal pretrial defendants. The conditions are notoriously difficult. Limited phone access. Restricted visiting hours. Overcrowded units. Every day you spend there is a day you can’t prepare for your defense properly. The MDC isn’t designed to help you – it’s designed to hold you until the system processes you. Getting released to home confinement or supervision changes everything about how your case proceeds.

LA Cases That Show How This Works

Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world. It’s also a place were federal prosecutors love making examples of high-profile defendants. The same spotlight that creates careers now illuminates prosecutions.

Tom Girardi was once a hero. The lawyer from Erin Brockovich who fought for injured clients against powerful corporations. He spent decades building that reputation. Then federal prosecutors revealed he had been stealing from those same injured clients – embezzeling tens of millions of dollars to fund private jets, jewelry, and his wife Erika Jaynes career. He was convicted at age 86 and sentenced to 87 months in federal prison. His dementia was not an excuse. The system he once worked eventually consumed him.

Jose Luis Huizar was a powerful Los Angeles city councilmember who controlled the citys Planning and Land Use Management Committee. He used that position to run a pay-to-play scheme that sought nearly $2 million in bribes from real estate developers. Cash. Casino chips. Prostitution services. His sentence: 13 years in federal prison plus $443,905 in restitution to the city he was supposed to serve.

Dr. Salvador Plasencia was a Santa Monica physician who repeatedly sold ketamine to actor Matthew Perry despite knowing Perrys well-documented history of drug addiction. He knew Perrys personal assistant was administering the drugs without medical training or supervision. Perry died. Plasencia was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. The celebrity connection didn’t protect him – it made prosecutors more aggressive.

Notice the pattern. These weren’t career criminals. Girardi was a celebrated attorney. Huizar was an elected official. Plasencia was a licensed doctor. All of them thought their positions protected them. All of them were wrong. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles dont back down from prominent defendants – they pursue them harder becuase the publicity justifies the resources.

The US Attorneys Office for the Central District has an entire Public Corruption unit. They have a Healthcare Fraud unit. They have prosecutors who specialize in white collar crime, financial fraud, and political corruption. When they open a file on someone prominent, they assign their best attorneys. The resources available to federal prosecutors in LA dwarf what you see in smaller districts. More investigators. More forensic accountants. More time to build a case before they move. By the time you know there’s a problem, they’ve already assembled a team specifically to prosecute you.

The Hidden Path: CASA and Other Options

Heres something most defendants never learn about. The Central District of California has a program called CASA – Conviction and Sentence Alternatives. If you qualify, it can result in your charges being completely dismissed.

CASA is a post-guilty plea diversion program for defendants whose criminal conduct was driven by underlying causes – substance abuse, mental health disorders, lack of life skills. If you’re accepted, you undergo intensive supervision and treatment. Complete the program successfully, and either your charges get dismissed entirely (Track 1) or you keep your conviction but receive only probation (Track 2).

But heres the system revelation nobody tells you. Prosecutors decide who gets offered CASA. It’s not automatic. It’s not guaranteed. Defense attorneys who know how to position clients for this program have a secret weapon that others don’t. The same facts can be presented in ways that make CASA more or less likely.

Each division of the Central District runs its own CASA program – Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and Riverside. The criteria vary slightly. The prosecutors who make decisions vary. Knowing which arguments work in which division, with which prosecutors, is the kind of institutional knowledge that changes outcomes.

This is why representation matters in federal court. Not every defendant qualifies for CASA. But many defendants who could qualify never learn the program exists. Their case gets processed through the normal assembly line, and they end up with federal convictions and prison sentences that could of been avoided.

What You Need to Do Right Now

If your reading this article, your probly in one of three situations. You suspect your under federal investigation. Federal agents have contacted you. Or you’ve already been charged. Each situation requires different action, but all of them require acting immediately.

If you suspect investigation: The FBI raid isn’t the beginning – the investigation started months ago. Look for warning signs. Agents talking to your employees or business partners. Subpoenas going to your bank. A former associate who suddenly stops communicating. If you see these signs, get a federal defense attorney NOW. The pre-raid phase is when the most options exist.

If agents have contacted you: Do not speak to them without an attorney present. This is not optional. Agents are trained to seem friendly while gathering evidence. Be polite, provide your attorneys contact information, say nothing else. The Fifth Amendment exists for a reason.

If your already charged: Time is critical. The “acceptance of responsibility” reduction – worth 25-35% off your sentence – has a deadline. Wait to long to plead and you lose it. The discount for admitting guilt expires. A skilled attorney can evaluate whether fighting makes sense or whether early resolution is the smarter path.

Spodek Law Group has defended clients facing federal charges throughout California. We understand how the Central District operates. We know which judges are defense-friendly and which are government judges. We know how to position clients for programs like CASA. And we know that in federal cases, the outcome often depends on having someone who can slow down the machine.

The consultation is free. The cost of waiting isn’t. Call us at 212-300-5196. The investigation is already underway. The only question is whether you get in front of it or let it run you over.