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Posted On: May 7, 2009

Mortgage Fraud Indictments Coming Soon

There are going to be several mortgage fraud indictments in the coming weeks around South Carolina. The United States attorneys in South Carolina have been conducting investigations in the Myrtle Beach and Charleston areas for the past several months. These investigation will lead to several mortgage fraud indictments. Our office has spent an extensive amount of time preparing for these indictments. We have also had several clients come into our office to discuss the potential exposure from a federal mortgage fraud indictment. Many of these indictments will be based on documents submitted to and FDIC insured lending institution. Hiring an attorney with extensive knowledge regarding this type of indictment for fraud is crucial to any defense. Our team of federal defense attorneys is more than capable of representing individuals and company that are being investigating and prosecuted.

We expect the indictments to arrive with the next 3 months. If you believe you are a target of the investigation, contact our office to learn what you need to do immediately to protect your rights and your freedom.

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Posted In: Mortgage Fraud

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Posted On: May 4, 2009

Crack to Cocaine Ratio Will Change

The Sentencing Guidelines on crack have been long outdated for the past two decades and until last week it appeared that no change would occur until next year. That all changed on Wednesday when a representative from the Department of Justice announced that the new (Obama) administration was taking the position that the prior crack to cocaine ratio would no long be this administrations position. Instead Obama came through on one of his promises. The Department of Justice announced at this hearing that the new position would be one of equal weight between crack and cocaine. In plan English, one gram of crack cocaine is equal to one gram of powder cocaine. The discrepancy has long impacted the black population of this country. The announcement will not allow for retroactive application, but will provide relief for many federal crack cases that are pending sentencing. The hope will be for Congress to pass an amendment that is retroactive.
Criminal defense attorneys will now be able to make the most of this statement and provide district court judges with very little room to give a crack indictment more weight than a cocaine indictment. The Justice Department will be hard pressed to allow a United States Attorney to continue arguing for a higher sentence for crack cocaine. Our firm currently has several crack/cocaine cases in Charleston, Florence, Columbia, Miami, Myrtle Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and New York. The new change will allow many mandatory minimum sentences to be avoided. Many defendant's facing a 20 year mandatory minimum will now be facing 3 to 6 years depending on their criminal history.

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Posted In: Federal Crimes

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Posted On: May 2, 2009

Justice Souter Stepping Down

In recent news it has been confirmed that Justice Souter, a United States Supreme Court Judge, will be retiring in the next few weeks. The media is already speculating about President Obama's potential nominees. Although the U.S. Supreme Court hears only a select number of cases each year, these cases often have a profound effect on the legal system across the country.

For example, when the Court ruled in Booker v. United States that the United States Sentencing Guidelines were no longer mandatory, th sentencing methods in Federal Court were drastically changed. District Court Judges were no longer bound by the guidelines and were free to give a "reasonable" sentence after considering the sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. section 3553(a). In United States v. Kimbrough, the court addressed the crack cocaine ratio and the disparity it created in sentencing.

In South Carolina, a federal case begins in the District of South Carolina. South Carolina has one district with several divisions, including Florence, Aiken, Spartanburg, Columbia, Charleston, and Greenville. If a defendant wishes to appeal a conviction and sentence in the District Court of South Carolina, it must be filed in the Fourth Circuit. The Fourth Circuit hears cases from all of the district courts in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Maryland.
Once an opinion is issued in the Fourth Circuit, a defendant has the option to file a writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court.

Appellate attorneys in South Carolina and across the country will be paying close attention to Obama's Supreme Court nomination.

Posted by Russell Mace | | Email This Post

Posted In: Appeals

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Posted On: May 1, 2009

U.S. Supreme Court Rules on Gant

The United States Supreme Court has recently made a crucial decision on individual rights related to police searches. The decision comes from a lower court state criminal case in Arizona. A defendant was arrested for driving without a valid license. The resulting search produced cocaine and a felony arrest for cocaine. The case reached the United States Supreme Court based on the impact on individual protections. These searches of vehicles can only be attacked by a motion to suppress. In South Carolina State court this motion is not heard until the day of trial unlike most other jurisdictions. This puts the criminal defense attorney in South Carolina in a difficult position to prepare for trial. The case can change dramatically depending on the Court's ruling. The Gant decision will provide the basis for many motions to suppress in South Carolina. The case law in South Carolina is very limited compared to many jurisdictions. One reason for this is the population of South Carolina is very rural and the actual number of cases going to trial is also very limited.
The Federal Courts in South Carolina will take immediate notice of this Supreme Court decision. Many of the State courts will most likely have to litigate the issue and provide the United States Supreme Court analysis for their local decisions. Any good criminal defense lawyer in South Carolina will be familiar with this decision and be able to apply this to any potential case. A good criminal defense attorney will also try to expand the meaning of this ruling to other cases that may be similar. Many attorneys will see this decision as hurting individual rights in the future, but the opposite should be true. This decision should be expanded to other areas of search and seizure law in the United States and South Carolina.

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Posted In: State Crimes

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Russell Warren Mace III

Nicole Elizabeth Nicolette

Toll Free: 1-800-94-TRIAL
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