Phoenix Federal Criminal Lawyers
The federal justice system is massive and has prisons all over the nation. The prisoners are transferred regularly to ensure that no one forms tight associations or gets too comfortable. This kind of high-security setting can make anyone lose their minds. Studies show that prisoners begin to deteriorate rather than rehabilitate in the confines of prison. Furthermore, when you consider the paucity of the health care, any medical condition can develop into a death sentence behind bars.
For this reason, you don’t want to treat a Phoenix, AZ, federal prison sentence like a vacation. The judges in the Phoenix federal courts have the ability to hand out massive sentences. In fact, many of the sentences have mandatory minimums. These terms can range from a year to life in prison. The factors that are used to determine the sentence are prior criminal record, severity of the current offense, the harm to the victims, and other key factors.
The Benefits of an Experienced Defense Attorney
Obtaining experienced counsel in Phoenix is the only way to approach a federal criminal prosecution. A talented criminal defense attorney will have many principles of law and defenses illuminate in their minds by merely discussing your case. These are avenues that they have a full working knowledge regarding.
An attorney who retains this type of encyclopedic understanding of the law does not have to waste your time trying to beat the learning curve. Every minute of their time is more valuable because experience eliminates the ineffective paths in litigation. You can’t cram to substitute the decades of tedious research needed to understand the contours of the laws.
Defendants simply don’t understand the level of skill that is required to persuade judges and to develop a solid record for appeals. Because we have moved away from a system of jury trials to a system of pleas, the motion drafting skills and case preparation are of paramount importance. Building up strong defenses can make the prosecution back down when they are faced with the plausibility of losing the case at trial and being sued for malice.
In order to create that threshold of resistance to prosecution, the defense attorney must present the claims of innocence with compelling force. And when you have that kind of protection and an attorney who is thorough and to the point, overzealous prosecutors have a way of backing down. They don’t like to lose and would rather bargain or dismiss the cases.
If you don’t hire an expert Phoenix defense attorney who has skill and experience with the particular facet of law involved, you will likely be ripped off. You simply won’t get the value for your money. Although licensed attorneys are not allowed to advertise themselves as specialists in any field, if their field of practice shows strong results in one segment of law, this is a good sign of expertise.
Our Phoenix law firm is thorough. We have access to the top experts, investigators, and other professionals in the field. This allows us to litigate a criminal case in the same manner that we may defend against a civil prosecution. Although the standard of proof is much higher for the prosecution to meet in a criminal prosecution, it can be a roll of the dice to see how things play out because jurors can be irrational. If the prosecutor presents logical evidence of guilt that is strong, they may still acquit. If the evidence is weak, they may still convict.
A jury is one of the few safeguards left on total prosecutorial discretion in this country. We have wandered away from litigating cases at trial because the sentencing schemes have grown to make it too risky. In addition, presenting a strong defense can be challenging and expensive.
We have experience in the following cases:
- Tax evasion
- Identity theft
- Immigration
- Drug trafficking
- Firearms violations
- Corporate crimes
- White-collar crimes
- Computer hacking
- Internet sex stings
- And many more …
The prosecutors can and do manipulate the evidence in nearly every case to some degree. They want to present the issues as black and white as possible even if the victim was somehow partly responsible for their own injuries. In civil law, this is called comparative or contributory negligence.
If a woman hugs a man, invites him to get close to her, and then complains that he was sexually excited and made sexual advances, a man could be faulted for acting too aggressively if he moves way too fast and she says no but can otherwise be forgiven.
Knowing all these nuances of law isn’t easy. It is hard to find attorneys who think outside the box. Our law firm, however, can be counted upon to provide a supreme level of skill that is bound to gain your favor.
What You Should Know About Federal Criminal Appeals
Misconceptions about federal criminal appeals are commonplace. This is partially because the purpose of these appeals can be hard to understand, especially for clients eager to have a conviction overturned. Not only are federal criminal appeals hard for clients to comprehend, some attorneys also find them confusing.
The primary purpose of a federal criminal appeal is to address a complaint that an error or errors occurred during a trial at a district court. A federal criminal appeal enables an appellate court to address those mistakes. This does not mean the facts of the case are retried. Nor does it mean that new evidence is presented. In fact, all of the information provided during the first trial will remain the same and no additional details concerning the facts of the case will be presented.
In most instances, a federal criminal appeal is not something that happens in person. In fact, it’s possible for the entire process to occur in writing, with the exception of oral arguments. It’s important to understand that oral arguments are not an automatic part of the process. It’s an element of an appeal that has to be requested and granted. However, there’s a chance that a counsel’s request for an oral argument will be denied.
The role of counsel on both sides in a federal criminal appeal is to file briefs that both raise and respond to the issue of legal errors occurring in the district court. It’s actually an appeal concerning mistakes made by the district court and not mistakes made by counsel, per se. Since the appellate court is examining the procedures that were followed, there is simply no need to have a witness stand, court reporters or juries. The distinction is that appellate courts are not courts of record like district courts.
In order for an appellate court to have the information needed to resolve legal arguments, it’s necessary for them to receive any items and documents that were presented during the trial. These details are given to the appellate court for review by a panel of appellate judges. There is no new information presented, only what was available at the district court during the trial. In other words, appellate judges will only see what is already on record.
There are often instances when a client wants to file an appeal because they want to present additional information, not realizing that the appeals process is not for that purpose. It often becomes difficult for them to understand how that can be possible. To ensure clarity, it’s helpful when counsel has a clear understanding and grasp of the appellate process. They should be able to explain how appeals work in order to establish realistic expectations and eliminate any confusion.
As you can probably imagine, most clients envision having an appeal granted and ultimately an acquittal. Generally speaking, this will only happen if there was a legal problem based on the actions of the district court. There’s a slight chance that the conviction will be vacated at the appellate level and then charges dismissed. However, this is a rare occurrence and plays out on TV far more often than in real life. Quite frankly, it’s why there is such an inaccurate understanding of how federal criminal appeals work.
In the event that the decision is made to move forward with an appeal, there are timeframes and rules that must be followed without fail. A notice of appeal is a document that must be filed within a specific amount of time, which is usually ten days. Client’s should not assume their trial attorney will handle the appeal. Unless a lawyer has been retained to do so, they will not likely file an appeal. The reason is because there is a heavy workload tied to appeals and the process must be initiated as soon as the notice of appeal is submitted.
