South Carolina Criminal Lawyer Blog

The Augusta Chronicle has reported that mortgage fraud cases are extremely abundant in South Carolina. The paper has reported that the Federal Bureau of Inestigation believes South Carolina is a "Hot Spot" for mortgage fraud. Although the article focuses on lawyers involved in closings and the possible ramificatoins of their participation, the central theme is the loss to the entire country for mortgage fraud. Georgia lawyers are not required to supervise every step of a realestate closing. South Carolina attorneys face a serious potential for trouble because they are required to participate in almost every level of a realestate transaction. With this in mind they must be extremely careful when reviewing documents for closings.

This article goes on to address the issue of mortgage brokers and real estate appraisers providing fraudulent documents to the closing attorney. The attorney cannot be expected to hire an independant appraiser for the property or verify each statement in the loan application. Mortgage fraud almost always involves several people. There is just no way to get the money from the lender without several people agreeing on the fraudulent documentation. Many times the key for the government will be to get one of the codefendants to spill the beans on everyone else and this will lead to many innocent people possibly being indicted. Defending mortgage fraud indictments requires a tremendous amount of time and effort for the defense attorney.

If you are indicted for mortgage fraud, be ready to fight to the end. In the current economic crisis, every dollar you have will be subject to federal seizure if possible. Your freedom and you finances must be preserved in your defense. Our defense attorneys practice in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. We also travel nationwide on federal indictments.

Continue reading " FBI declares South Carolina a Mortgage Fraud "HOT SPOT" " »

Five middle eastern men have been found guilty by a federal jury in New Jersey. This was the case that depicted several individuals firing assault rifles on camera and making comments about the United States. There seemed to be very little evidence of an actual conspiracy to attack the military base as alleged in the federal indictment. This case is similar to a case in Miami where the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrest several individuals on charges that they conspired to attack the Sears Tower in Chicago. Both cases are based on FBI informants that are either being paid by the FBI or are getting some type of deal from the government for their information. In this federal indictment in New Jersey, the informants were allowed to stay in the United States for the information they provided.

The aggressive tactics deployed by the FBI after September 11th have resulted in many arrests and probably some convictions of innocent people. These five individuals should have been watched until they made some overt attempt to organize for the purpose of violating the law. They appeared to have no common plan or scheme to attack the United States, but rather were just talking and shooting some guns. Anyone charged with CONSPIRACY in Federal Court is well aware that the hand of one is the hand of all. In other words, whatever act any member of the conspiracy commits is attributable to all co-conspirators. Conspiracy indictments are the most common charge presented in federal court. Defending a conspiracy count in federal court is not easy, but a good criminal defense attorney can find several ways to explain a defendant's actions.

This could have been a case of the government deciding to indict and arrest because the suspects were not going to do anything more in furtherance of the alleged conspiracy. Arrest them now and release a statement that a plot has been foiled to attack the United States. One thing that has not been mentioned is the alleged target these guys had selected. An ARMY BASE was the target. Well, of all the targets in this country, that is the last one a terrorist group would attack. Not only will they most likely be killed in this attack by an ARMY RANGER, but there is a chance for the act to get our soldiers even more fired up and increase moral in the Middle East. I find it hard to believe that any group would try to attack a military installation in the United States.

Continue reading " Federal Convictions for Conspiracy " »

An inmate at the Lieber Correctional Institution has received the death penalty for the murder of another inmate. The defendant stabbed the other inmate at least twelve times with a makeshift knife. He pleaded guilty and asked for no mercy, stating to the Circuit Judge that he wanted to die for his crimes. He was in prison for life for killing two people during a robbery several years earlier.

Since this man plead guilty, his direct appeal will be limited to the plea colloquy and sentencing transcripts. Therefore, it is most likely this conviction will be upheld by the South Carolina Court of Appeals, unless an appellate attorney in South Carolina can show that the plea was coerced or involuntary. Additionally, the defendant may decide to pursue a postconviction relief motion, comonly known as a PCR, in an atempt to show he received ineffective assistance of counsel. He received the death penalty, so a South Carolina criminal attorney will most likely be appointed to represent him during a PCR hearing. However, it is doubtful that this motion will be successful since the inmate asked for the death penalty, his statement will be on the record.

The family of the young man who was murdered by this inmate may be able to file a civil action against the prison for negligence, wrongful death, or file a claim in Federal Court as a violation of his civil rights. However, because the prison is a state facility, the prison officials will have some protection from liability. A wrongful death attorney in South Carolina will have to show that prison officials were not properly trained, and failed to properly supervise the inmates at this facility, which led to the young man's death.

Continue reading " Inmate gets Death Penalty after South Carolina Prison killing " »

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida has announced the extradition of Diego Montoya to the United States to face charges of drug trafficking, money laundering, and murder. The government has stated that Montoya was in charge of North Valley Drug Cartel in Columbia. Several of Montoya's brothers have been taken to the United States and have been convicted on federal drug trafficking charges. The U.S. attorney has alleged that Montoya's organizatio smuggled more than 10 billion dollars in cocaine into the United States. If convicted, Montoya will face life in prison. He is a so called "KINGPIN."

Montoya should already have a good criminal defense attorney in Miami. He should have a detention hearing tomorrow in front of Federal Magistrate in Miami. This is basically a bond hearing. Montoya has been in the custody of the Columbia government waiting to be extradited to the United States. The government has alleged that Montoya was the head of Columbia's most powerful drug cartel. This state has been repeated by the government at least 4 times in the past 10 years with regard to a new case. The term "kingpin" has also been used to describe several prior federal indictments. In the future there will be another "kingpin" from Columbia that is indicted. There will never be an end to the cocaine trafficking business. Most Columbians are indicted in the South District of Florida (Miami to be precise). The question of contacts and ties to Miami present themselves in the form of property and money that has been invested in Miami.

Our attorneys practice in Federal Court in Miami and our first office is still in Miami. We now taken that expertise and have opened another office in South Carolina. We represent clients charged with drug trafficking in South Carolina.

Continue reading " Columbian Kingpin Extradited to US " »

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has stated in a report by the Charleston Post that cuts in funding will reduce the number of investigations for mortgage fraud, gang related crime, and violent crime. The director of SLED has stated that many investigations are going to be dropped as more and more positions at SLED are cut. SLED provides chemical analysis for most of the police departments in South Carolina.

The purposed reductions in mortgage fraud investigations will not truly affect the number of indictments that are going to occur across the county. Most mortgage fraud investigations are done by federal agencies such as the Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Secret Service could get involved depending on the funding resources used in the fraud. The FBI has dedicated over 150 agents to mortgage fraud investigations in the past year. These investigations will cover cases based on straw buyers, broker fraud, application fraud, appraisal fraud and any type of information that was used to get the loan for the property. The cut in funding for SLED will not affect mortgage fraud investigations on the federal level.

Defending a mortgage fraud indictment is not simple and should not be done by an attorney new to the federal justice system. The exposure of substantial prison time must be controlled as much as possible from the time there is any inclination that one might be facing a mortgage fraud indictment. Understanding how the United States Sentencing Guidelines will affect the case and the extreme importance of speaking to a federal defense lawyer cannot be understated.

Continue reading " Mortgage Fraud Investigations Could Slow " »

Eight teenagers have been charged with abusing elderly victims at a nursing home in Minnesota. According to reports, the teens assaulted the victims by spitting at them, poking at them, and rubbing their genitals. The victims were suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

These teenagers allegedly took inappropriate pictures of the elderly residents and also intentionally antagonized them. The teenagers could be charged with a variety of crimes, including assault, battery, abuse of a vulnerable victim, and sexual assault. These teenagers will need to hire a criminal defense attorney to represent them because they could be facing jail time.

The victims may also have valid claims in civil court. They could sue the nursing home for negligence, negligent hiring, and negligent supervision. To prove negligent supervision, the victims would have to prove that the nursing home knew or had reason to know that the teenagers were harming the elderly residents. in other words, that nursing home employees were on notice of the abuse and did nothing to stop it. The victims could also sue the teenagers individually for civil assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Local authorities have not determined whether any other employees working at the nursing home will face criminal charges.

Continue reading " Teens charged in Nursing Home Abuse " »

Local law enforcement in North Myrtle Beach have stated that they will not be pressing charges in an incident during which a man died. The man was seen shoplifting in Wal-Mart and three employees and a bystander wrestled him to the ground in the parking lot. At some point during the incident, the man died. An autopsy has been performed, but the cause of death has not been released at this time. Additionally, it is unknown whether these Wal-mart employees have hired an attorney or more specifically, a criminal defense lawyer in Myrtle Beach.

Based on these known facts, it appears that this was not a murder. The parties involved did not have the intent to kill the man, but were trying to prevent a theft. Murder requires the intent to kill or a willful disregard for human life, known as depraved heart murder. Additionally, these individuals could not be charged with voluntary manslaughter because this homicide also requires an intent to kill but is mitigated by the state of mind of the individual or the circumstances surrounding the case. Involuntary manslaughter is negligent homicide and does not require an intent to kill.

However, depending on the results of autopsy, the deceased family may have a claim for wrongful death. The family would have to prove the man's death was caused by the individuals that wrestled the man to the ground. Therefore, the autopsy will be the key piece of evidence in this case.

Continue reading " No Charges Filed in Wal-Mart Death " »