Daniel

D.C. District Court Compassionate Release Spreadsheet

October 30, 2020 No Comments

D.C. District Court Compassionate Release Spreadsheet This is an excel spread sheet summarizing decisions in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia concerning

SUBSTANTIAL ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION IN FEDERAL COURT

April 21, 2021 No Comments

This blog entry addresses the some of the more nuanced issues involving “cooperation” and sentence reductions for “substantial assistance” under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and current practice in federal courts. The contents are not meant to provide legal advice, but to identify important issues involved with the attempt to cooperate. There are many pernicious aspects of the Federal Sentencing Guideline regime, including pretrial detention for almost anyone charged in a drug case, oppressive sentences for many crimes, and the almost unfettered ability of federal prosecutors to offer plea agreements that virtually pre-determine the sentence in any particular case. But even

PLEA AGREEMENTS, APPELLATE WAIVERS AND A SENTENCE WITHIN THE “CORRECT ADVISORY GUIDELINE” RANGE

October 25, 2020 No Comments

This blog contains an analysis of how appellate waivers in plea agreements can have unintended, unforeseen, and potentially disastrous consequences in criminal cases. In United States v. Boyd, 975 F.3d 1185 (11th Cir. 2020), the defendant pled guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. As part of the written plea agreement, the defendant waived his right to appeal a sentence that was within the “correct advisory guideline” range. The Probation Office concluded that the defendant’s prior state conviction for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute constituted a prior felony conviction and resulted in the doubling of

INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING, THE MDLEA; AND BEYOND

September 13, 2020 No Comments

Under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA), 46 United States Code Section 70503, et seq. the United States claims the authority to prosecute international drug trafficking on board maritime vessels. Since its enactment in 1986, the statute has given the United States a very significant tool in its role as “world policeman” in the fight against international drug trafficking. The MDLEA has several advantages over other frequently used criminal conspiracy laws. First, the statue expressly authorizes prosecution in the United States even when the vessel is found in the territorial waters of a foreign nation, so long as that

In The News:
This Woman Ran Her Own Mexican Drug Cartel — and It Ended Very Badly

August 3, 2021 No Comments

MEXICO CITY — In Mexico, she was known as “La Comadre,” “La Madrina,” and “La Doña”—words that all refer, loosely, to a big female boss in Spanish. Some of her associates also called her Jenca—a name that she stamped into some of the cocaine kilos that she trafficked into the U.S. This week, Luz Irene Fajardo Campos was sentenced to 22 years in prison in the U.S. for running an international drug-trafficking network with her adult sons, sourcing cocaine in Colombia and importing precursor chemicals into Mexico, to then traffic cocaine and meth into the U.S., according to U.S. prosecutors.

In The News:
The Secret History of Columbia’s Paramilitaries and the U.S. War on Drugs

June 16, 2020 No Comments

CALABAZO, Colombia — Skinny but imposing with aviator glasses, a bushy mustache and a toothy smile, Julio Henríquez Santamaría was leading a community meeting in this sylvan hamlet when he was abducted by paramilitary thugs, thrown into the back of a Toyota pickup and disappeared forever on Feb. 4, 2001. Ahead of his time, Mr. Henríquez had been organizing farmers to substitute legal crops like cacao for coca, which the current Colombian government, on the verge of ending a civil war fueled by the narcotics trade, is promoting as an antidrug strategy. But Hernán Giraldo Serna, or his men, didn’t

In The News:
‘We are shot! We are shot!’ An ICE agent’s final moments resound in U.S. court.

June 16, 2020 No Comments

The call shattered the calm at the switchboard of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. “This is Victor Avila from ICE! We are shot! We are shot!” a man screamed. “We are at a highway in Mexico; we’ve been shot and attacked on the highway!” It was shortly after 2 p.m. on Feb. 15, 2011, and Avila’s partner, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Jaime J. Zapata, lay dying in the driver’s seat of their armored, State Department-issued SUV. The blue Chevrolet Suburban was under attack by the Los Zetas drug cartel’s hit men. “Jaime! Look at me, stay

In The News:
Exfiscal Anturi está libre y de regreso a Colombia

June 15, 2020 No Comments

Así lo confirmó a Caracol Radio su abogado en Washington Robert A. Feitel, quien además aseguró que su cliente no tiene casos pendientes en su país El exfiscal Ramiro Anturi Larrahondo había sido condenado a 55 meses de prisión en noviembre del 2012, y el juez del caso le había reconocido el tiempo que pasó en prisión desde su captura en el 2010, tanto en Colombia como en EE.UU. previo al juicio En octubre del 2012, el ex fiscal se declaró culpable de compartir información sensible sobre procesos judiciales con grupos narcotraficantes a cambio de jugosas cantidades de dinero. Dicha

In The News:
The Mysterious Capture and Extradition of Guatemala’s ‘Ché Manuel’

June 15, 2020 No Comments

Authorities identified him as one of the main drug traffickers in the department of Chiquimula, a trafficking corridor of large amounts of cocaine moving by land through Guatemala. In Virginia, he is accused of moving tons of cocaine and millions of dollars in the same case that led to the the downfall of Honduras’ Valle Valle brothers. Now, “Ché Manuel” is in custody in Miami, where he is facing another trial on drug trafficking charges. And it’s still a mystery where he was captured. In May 2017, some residents of Chiquimula started to whisper about José Manuel López Morales, also

In the News:
US drugs prosecutors switch sides to defend accused Colombian traffickers

June 15, 2020 No Comments

US prosecutors and other senior officials who spearheaded the war against drug cartels have quit their jobs to defend Colombian cocaine traffickers, saying their clients are not bad people and that United States drug policy is wrong. Senior former assistant US attorneys and Drug Enforcement Administration agents are turning years of experience in investigating, indicting and extraditing narcos to the advantage of the alleged traffickers they now represent. “I’m not embarrassed about the fact that I changed sides,” said Robert Feitel, a Washington-based attorney who used to pursue traffickers and money launderers at the Department of Justice. “And I’m not

D.C. District Court Compassionate Release Spreadsheet

Blog Archives

In The News:
This Woman Ran Her Own Mexican Drug Cartel — and It Ended Very Badly

SUBSTANTIAL ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION IN FEDERAL COURT

D.C. District Court Compassionate Release Spreadsheet

PLEA AGREEMENTS, APPELLATE WAIVERS AND A SENTENCE WITHIN THE “CORRECT ADVISORY GUIDELINE” RANGE

INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING, THE MDLEA; AND BEYOND

Contact Us

Law Office of Robert Feitel
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
#190-515
Washington, D.C. 20004

Office: 202 450 6133
Mobile: 202 255 6637
Fax: 202 450 6134

rf@rfeitellaw.com

Terrapin Station: Blog

SUBSTANTIAL ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION IN FEDERAL COURT

PLEA AGREEMENTS, APPELLATE WAIVERS AND A SENTENCE WITHIN THE “CORRECT ADVISORY GUIDELINE” RANGE

INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING, THE MDLEA; AND BEYOND

In The News...

In The News:
This Woman Ran Her Own Mexican Drug Cartel — and It Ended Very Badly

In The News:
The Secret History of Columbia’s Paramilitaries and the U.S. War on Drugs

In The News:
‘We are shot! We are shot!’ An ICE agent’s final moments resound in U.S. court.

In The News:
Exfiscal Anturi está libre y de regreso a Colombia

In The News:
The Mysterious Capture and Extradition of Guatemala’s ‘Ché Manuel’

In the News:
US drugs prosecutors switch sides to defend accused Colombian traffickers

© 2020 Feitel Law Firm

Daniel

Blog Archives

Contact Us

Law Office of Robert Feitel 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. #190-515Washington, D.C. 20004

Office: 202 450 6133Mobile: 202 255 6637Fax: 202 450 6134

Terrapin Station: Blog

In The News...

© 2020 Feitel Law Firm

Law Office of Robert Feitel
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
#190-515
Washington, D.C. 20004

Office: 202 450 6133
Mobile: 202 255 6637
Fax: 202 450 6134