Busted by the Feds - Every Cloud has a Silver Lining!

     Here is a happy ending to what normally would be a disastrous case. My client was caught with pounds of methamphetamine being shipped from California to Hawaii. When he was arrested, he also had methamphetamine and cocaine in his car. To make matters even worse, he had a prior conviction for drug distribution. 

     As the recipe goes -- to obtain a potentially favorable result in federal court conspiracy cases involving drugs -- my client was willing to share information.  He shared information to the extent that the AUSA handling the case did not file the 851 enhancement which would have given him a mandatory 20 year prison term.  He was now only looking at a 10 year mandatory minimum term of imprisonment for the quantity of drugs involved.  When we went to sentencing, my client was actually safety valve eligible. The same AUSA filed a motion for downward departure based on substantial cooperation. The Judge sentenced my client to eight years.  The two level reduction under the new sentencing guidelines reduced his sentence to 77 months.

     A case my client initially provided information later went to trial. He testified in that trial for the government which secured a conviction against a rather large drug distributor. The AUSA then filed a Rule 35 motion asking that an additional 22 months be taken off his sentence. When the dust settled, the Judge reduced his sentence by 24 months. That resulted in my client being released from confinement after having served only 46 months. Not a bad deal for one of the largest drug distributors in the State.  It is hard to count this as a victory. However, under the circumstances though, I don't think you could get a much better result.