Author: Jeremy Gordon

Hess and Koch are Charged and Plead Guilty to a Very Different Type of Fraud Case Hess and Koch, persons who owned and worked at a funeral home respectively, were accused of crimes relating to owning a funeral home. Their funeral home would meet with persons seeking cremations for themselves [in the future] or loved […]

Vinas Pleads Guilty to Offenses Around Murder-For-Hire, Gets Time Served Vinas was implicated in a murder-for-hire case. Undercover officers, working on a tip, contacted Vinas, who indicated that he wanted someone to kill two people for unpaid construction work. Vinas and the undercover met several times to discuss the matter and Vinas paid two deposits […]

Supreme Court holds that Some Jan 6th Defendants May have been Charged Improperly: Fischer, 23-5572 A cold and dispassionate look at one of the statutes used to prosecute Fischer led the Court to determine the statute was improperly used. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Normally, an Law Involving White Collar Crimes The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), […]

United States Sentencing Commission Promulgates Amendments for 2023-2024 Term The United States Sentencing Commission has recently issued new sentencing commission guidelines and amendments, set to take effect from November 1, 2024 unless congress intervenes. This significant development aims to enhance the overall quality and effectiveness of the sentencing process.  In this article we’ll discuss the […]

West:  Wrongfully Sentenced to Life in Prison West was indicted for use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire. The district court sentenced West under the portion of the statute that imposes a sentence of life imprisonment in cases where “death results.”  However the indictment “’did not include any allegation that […]

Rudolph is Convicted and Enhanced as a Career Offender even though there is a lack of Clarity Rudolph pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute powder and rock cocaine. The probation officer determined him to be a career offender. This raised his offense level and sentencing guideline range greatly. Rudolph objected to his designation. “On July […]

Jones is Charged of Several Murders, Convicted and Sentenced to Death Jones committed three murders in relation to a theft of guns. One of the victims was a small child. Jones was charged with two counts of premeditated first degree murder and one count of attempted premeditated first-degree murder in the state of Arizona. The […]

This case involves two persons who were charged with 922(g) offenses and enhanced by the Armed Career Criminal Act. Two Separate Cases, Two ACCA Enhancements Brown sold drugs to police officers in a series of controlled buys. The police officers conducted a search pursuant to a warrant of his home and found a gun. He […]

Smithers:  Charged and convicted of Pill-Mill Offenses Smithers was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. The Government then added hundreds of counts to the charges via superseding indictments. At trial the prosecutors brought forth evidence to show that Smithers ran a “pill mill,” essentially that Smithers prescribed pain killer medication […]

As many of you know, the United States Sentencing Commission made sentencing guideline amendments that became effective November 1, 2023. These included changes to what constituted Extraordinary and Compelling Reasons for purposes of a 3582(c)(1)(A) motion. Among the changes is an amendment for unreasonably long sentences: (6)       Unusually Long Sentence.—If a defendant received an unusually […]