Terrapin Station

Where Shame Goes To Die

October 21, 2024 No Comments

I recently completed my representation of a defendant charged in the events of January 6, 2021 at the United States Capitol. I am not going

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

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

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

GOVERNMENT POST INDICTMENT USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE SUBPOENAS

June 6, 2020 No Comments

This blog discusses the Government’s post-indictment use of administrative subpoenas to potentially obtain information for use at trial. As discussed herein, defense counsel need to

BOND, CONDITIONS OF RELEASE, AND ICE DETAINERS

May 12, 2020 No Comments

This blog focuses on the issue of immigration detainers and bond motions. The contents of this blog do not constitute legal advice, but rather is

TO WAIVE OR NOT TO WAIVE IN FEDERAL CRIMINAL CASES

May 12, 2020 No Comments

This blog entry discusses some of the outer limits of the Government’s authority in criminal cases to demand that a defendant waive certain rights. The

I recently completed my representation of a defendant charged in the events of January 6, 2021 at the United States Capitol. I am not going to use his name because he has served his sentence and wants to rebuild his life. My client was charged with eleven (11) criminal counts, the most serious of which were two charges of Assault on a Police Officer and Obstruction of an Official Proceeding (a count dismissed after trial as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision in Fisher v. United States). The charges arose out of a tug of war between four Capitol Police

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

In The News:
Student Accepted To Top Law School With Full Ride Sentenced In January 6th Case

October 28, 2024 No Comments

Justice continues to be meted out for those who participated in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, and one of the defendants sentenced just last week was a recent law school admittee. For someone who had aspirations to enter the legal profession, this isn’t the side of the law you want to be on. As first reported by CBS 42, would-be lawyer James Grant had been accepted to the University of Alabama School of Law in the Fall of 2021. In his sentencing memo, Grant’s lawyer, Robert Feitel, states that his client was accepted to the Top 50

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

Where Shame Goes To Die

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

GOVERNMENT POST INDICTMENT USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE SUBPOENAS

BOND, CONDITIONS OF RELEASE, AND ICE DETAINERS

TO WAIVE OR NOT TO WAIVE IN FEDERAL CRIMINAL CASES

Blog Archives

In The News:
Student Accepted To Top Law School With Full Ride Sentenced In January 6th Case

Where Shame Goes To Die

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

Contact Us

Law Office of Robert Feitel
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#190-515
Washington, D.C. 20004

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

rf@rfeitellaw.com