Orlando Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer

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Orlando Federal Criminal Defense Attorney

My law firm consists of six lawyers, four legal assistants, two private investigators, and one sentencing mitigation specialist. I will be the lead attorney on your case. This means I will conference with you, analyze your discovery, explain the law relevant to your case, attend all court appearances, handle all motion hearings, a trial (if there is one), and a sentencing hearing (if there is one).

I treat every client’s case, no matter the size and scope, as an opportunity to win and burnish my credentials to further my law firm’s ambitions. I therefore sincerely appreciate the trust you have placed in me during this difficult time in your life. I will work hard to earn even more of your trust as we move forward. Your journey will not be easy, but then again nothing worth doing ever is.

On that note, here are a few points to keep in mind as we move forward that will assist in maintaining a positive attorney-client relationship.

Legal Representation

Please allow me to explain how my legal representation will proceed chronologically, at least at the outset, so that you know what to expect from this point forward. Please note, depending on when you retained me, not every one of these events will occur.

However, this is a general outline of what to expect from start to finish in a typical case.

Bond Motion and Bond Hearing (if not already done or applicable)
Monthly or Weekly Video Conferences, Office Conferences or Telephone Conferences
Discovery Received
Discovery Analyzed
Mitigation Specialist/Investigator Meeting(s)
Mitigation Specialist/Investigator Written Report(s)
Production of at least one written Attorney-Client Privileged, Case Analysis, including but not limited to:
- an assessment of the evidence, and
- an assessment of the federal sentencing guidelines, and
- an assessment of statutory minimum and maximum penalties, and
- an assessment of downward and upward departures, and
- an assessment of Title 18 United States Code 3553(a) variance mitigation, and
- an assessment of the likelihood of success of any potential pretrial motions, and
- an assessment of the likelihood of success at trial.
Guilty Plea Hearing Preparation, Motions Hearing Preparation, or Trial Preparation
Guilty Plea Hearing, Motions Hearing, Sentencing Hearing, or a Trial

Retired United States Probation Officer

In addition to my knowledge and skill and my training and experience, I also incorporated the knowledge and skill and the training and experience of a retired Senior Supervisory United States Probation Officer who served the United States District Court Judges in the Middle District of Florida for over twenty-six years. He has a wide ranging background related to the United States Sentencing Guidelines.

During the first ten years of his career, he served as a United States Probation Officer and then a Senior United States Probation Officer in a special investigations division, conducting hundreds of presentence investigations in a wide variety of criminal cases. During the last sixteen years of his career, he served as the supervisor of a special investigations unit where he analyzed nearly a thousand presentence investigation reports for accuracy and completeness prepared by subordinate United States Probation Officers.

Throughout his three decades in the public and now private practice, he received specialized training in all matters related to federal sentencing, including criminal background investigations, sentencing guideline applications, and legal research. He also served as an adjunct trainer for both the Administrative Office of United States Courts and the Federal Judicial Center. Late in his career, he was commissioned as a member of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts Presentence Investigation Report Working Group.

As a member of my law firm, and no other, he now uses the knowledge and expertise he gained during his career to assist my clients in the pre-plea, pre-sentencing, and post-sentencing phases of their federal criminal cases. After I am retained, he will conference with you about your case. This is done at my direction. It is important to note that he shares with you the same attorney-client privilege that I share. Therefore, please be fully cooperative and truthful with him at all times.

Retired United States IRS Federal Agent

In addition to my knowledge and skill and my training and experience, , I also incorporated the knowledge and skill and the training and experience of a retired United States IRS Federal Agent into my law firm. This person is a retired IRS Criminal Investigations Division Federal Agent. After twenty-seven years as a federal agent, he is now my law firm’s licensed private investigator. He is also a certified fraud examiner and forensic accountant. He provides invaluable knowledge and expertise in all of our white collar, fraud, and money laundering cases.

Retired Drug Enforcement Agency Federal Agent

I also have a retired United States Marine Intelligence Officer and retired Drug Enforcement Agency Federal Agent on my team. After serving in the Marines, this person joined the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He was the honor graduate in his class. After graduating, he transferred to a then newly formed, paramilitary, special operations unit known as FAST. The FAST Unit deployed to the country of Afghanistan to assist in investigations against narcotics organizations supplying terrorists with funding. While in Afghanistan, he successfully extradited a top tier heroin drug traffickers and narco-terrorists to the United States for prosecution.

Over his career, he participated in other world deployments, wherein he advised foreign nationals on the investigation of narco-traffickers. He has participated in all aspects of narco-trafficking law enforcement, including surveillance operations, wiretap operations, and arrest operations at the state and federal level. He was in charge of macro and micro narco-trafficking investigations, including state, national, and worldwide operations, including coordination with local agencies. He finished his career in the State of Florida, wherein he retired as a Group Supervisor after twenty-five years in the DEA. He understands how federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors operate in Florida and nationwide.

No Case Result Promises

Any lawyer who promises you a specific case result (i.e., case dismissal, no conviction, no prison, probation, etc.) is not being truthful. This is especially true if a lawyer makes such a promise before you pay him or her. I will not make promises that I cannot keep. I will tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. This policy applies to good news, bad news and news somewhere in between. Therefore, while I cannot guarantee a certain result, I will work as hard as possible to achieve your desired result. We are in this together. And we must be honest with each other for our attorney-client relationship to work. At the end of the day if you do not tell me the truth, I will look foolish before the court, but you could go to prison. Neither is what we want out of our attorney-client relationship.

Weekly Meetings

I have an open-door policy every Wednesday for out of custody clients. This means you may request an office conference, a video conference (via Zoom, Face Time, Google Duo, etc.) or a teleconference every Wednesday during our attorney-client relationship so that you are fully informed about the status your case.

If you are ever in-custody within a thirty mile radius of my Tampa office, I will set aside one day every two weeks to conference with you in-person or through video conference (although it may not always be on Wednesday due to jail restrictions).

Additionally, whether you are in custody or out of custody, my open door Wednesday policy applies to your family and friends as well, but you must approve this in advance, due to the attorney-client privilege.

Keep in mind, your requested meetings are in addition to the conferences, video conferences and/or teleconferences that I will schedule with you over the course of your case. The conferences could be any day of the week, at any time, depending on the level of urgency. My open door Wednesday policy is solely for you, so you never feel like you are being left out of your own defense. Communication, whether it is between a doctor and a patient or a husband and a wife, is essential for any relationship to work. The attorney-client relationship is no different. If you are starting to feel frustrated with your case, before doing anything else, please schedule a meeting with me to see if we can solve your problem. If I know about your problem, I can most likely solve it – or at least explain honestly and clearly why I cannot.

Case Progress

Your case will inevitably have slow moments where it appears not much is happening from your perspective. Please be patient. There will be ups and downs as your case matriculates through the criminal justice system. However, when your case demands my attention, I promise I will respond in kind.

Therefore, even though we may not communicate every single day (although if you wish we will communicate every single week!), this does not mean that I do not care about you or your case. And it certainly does not mean that I am not working on your case every day. Much of what I do does not require your direct, daily input so please do not grow anxious or angry if there are time periods, even extended time periods, wherein we are not communicating every day. This is normal. However, and this bears repeating, please remember that regardless of when I need to speak to you, you can speak to me every Wednesday if you desire.

What you should take from this policy is this: if you ever in the future complain that you do not know enough about your case, it is your fault because I agree upon being retained to meet you and/or your family and friends every Wednesday upon request.

Conclusion

Due to the nature of our relationship and your situation, there are bound to be difficult moments ahead, but in the end our goal is to achieve the optimum result. At this point, neither of us know what the optimum result will be. Our goal is to work together to achieve whatever the optimum result is.

The bottom line is our relationship is about you. It is not about me. However, since I am now your lawyer, we are in this journey together. I take this journey very seriously. Your freedom is at stake. My reputation is at stake. We therefore both have skin in the game. I do what I do each day because I believe in my cause. And my cause is you.

Areas of Practice

I defend all federal criminal court areas of practice, including but not limited to the following federal crimes:

Orlando Federal White Collar Criminal Defense

Tax Fraud
Mail Fraud
Wire Fraud
Bank Fraud
Mortgage Fraud
Securities Fraud
Medicare Fraud
Health Care Fraud
Bribery
IRS Issues
Identity Theft
Embezzlement
Insider Trading
Ponzi Schemes
Money Laundering
Sarbanes Oxley Offenses
Conspiracy to Commit Federal White Collar Offenses
All Other Federal White Collar Crimes

Federal Sex Crimes Defense

Child Pornography Possession Offenses
Child Pornography Receipt Offenses
Child Pornography Distribution Offenses
Child Pornography Production Offenses
Child Sex Trafficking Offenses
Adult Sex Trafficking Offenses
Conspiracy to Commit Child Pornography Offenses
Conspiracy to Commit Federal Sex Offenses
All Other Federal Sex Crime Offenses

General Federal Criminal Defense

Gun Offenses
Drug Offenses and Trafficking
Crimes of Violence
Conspiracy to Commit a Federal Crime
All Other Federal Crimes

Federal Grand Jury Investigations

Target, Subject, and Witness Letters
Target of a Federal Grand Jury Investigation
Subject of a Federal Grand Jury Investigation
Witness of a Federal Grand Jury Investigation
SEC, FBI, HSI, DEA, ATF, CIA, and NSI Investigations
All other Federal Investigations

Federal Criminal Appeals and Post-Conviction Cases

Direct Appeals
Reply Briefs
Oral Argument
2255 Motions and Hearings
2254 Motions and Hearings
Newly Discovered Evidence Motions and Hearings

I am a member of the State of Montana bar, the State of Florida bar, and the bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I represent federal defendants in the State of Florida before the Orlando Division of the Middle District of Florida before the following federal judges:

District Court Judge Wendy Berger
District Court Judge Paul Byron
District Court Judge Carlos Mendoza
Senior District Court Judge John Antoon II
Senior District Court Judge Anne Conway
Senior District Court Judge Roy Dalton, Jr.
Senior District Court Judge Patricia Fawsett
Senior District Court Judge Gregory Presnell
Magistrate Judge David Baker
Magistrate Judge Daniel Irick
Magistrate Judge Embry Kidd
Magistrage Judge Robert Norway
Magistrate Judge Leslie Hoffman Price

In addition, I a member of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of the State of Montana, the Supreme Court of the State of Florida, and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. And I am also a member of or a pro hac vice member of the following federal courts:

United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
United States District Court for Arizona
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
United States District Court for the Central District of California
United States District Court for Connecticut
United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida
United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia
United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky
United States District Court for Massachusetts
United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan
United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi
United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
United States District Court for Montana
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
United States District Court for North Dakota
United States District Court for Rhode Island
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
United States District Court for the Western District of Texas
United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington
United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia

Overall, as your Orlando federal criminal defense attorney, I will diligently work to protect your rights, build a strong defense, and achieve the best possible outcome in your Florida federal criminal case.

Call or text me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 407-735-6800.