You’re the FBI Target
5 Areas You Must Advocate For Yourself
PREPARATION = SURVIVAL
If You Suspect You’re The Target of a Federal Investigation | Before The Presentence Interview (PSI) | After The PSI – But Before The Sentencing Hearing | After Sentencing or You’re Already Incarcerated | There Are Still Things We Can Do
For a No Obligation Free Consult Call Dr.Blatstein at: 240.888.7778, or by email. Dr. Blatstein answers and personally returns all of his calls.
1st Start interviewing Attorneys
- Ask for References
- Ask to see “several Sentencing Memorandums”,
- If they ask Why, or that is Confidential, politely respond with either.
- I am sure that you have several “happy” clients that would be willing to speak for a minute or two
… I asked surgeons for references before I had my hip replacement
or
Regarding the Memorandums,
- the attorney can “just” redact (black out) the person’s personal info.
- (Here we want to see if they individually take the time to write each one separately, or are they Boilerplate?
2nd You and your attorney have a quick decision
- YOU HAVE TO BE HONEST WITH THEM –
- ABOUT EVERYTHING (again, here too I was not, Another Lesson Learned)
- NEXT: Trial (98% of Federal Cases Loose), or Plea
3rd If you win at Trial: CONGRATS!!
4th You now only have 90 days to prepare for your Presentence Interview
- (Unless you have extenuating circumstances, but eventually)
- You and your attorney will be in Proactive mode
YOU
- Collecting copies of your medical records – Everything
- Hospital, laboratory, radiology, physician, surgical, prescription, and medical devices
Other: copies
- You get the picture: educational, military, character, community service, work references, original birth certificates, social security cards, licenses, etc.
Your Attorney: Preparing their strategy for The Presentence Interview, then
ASAP they will contact The Probation Officer
- To learn when their Final Dictation Date Is for Your PRESENTENCE REPORT
- Why: because they want to get a feel for what they know – and
- begin to get their “message on the record, “… AKA Bonding
- To Set Up YOUR INTERVIEW
BE PREPARED because the P.O. will write your PRESENTENCE REPORT based on your INTERVIEW
- YOU NEED TO KNOW – YOUR NARRATIVE COLD
Your PRESENTENCE REPORT IMPACTS
- Release Date
- Security Level Requirements
- Medical and Mental Healthcare Needs
- Psychology Programs – Limited Availability
- FSA Programming, and Criminogenic Needs, Risk Assessment ⇒ ETC towards early release
MEANWHILE, for the last 3 months you have been writing, and rewriting your story – YOUR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Why?
5th YOUR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
This is your chance to speak directly to the Judge – and where he gets to know you
Done right it can lower your sentence, but no guarantees –
Still not convinced – Listen to what these five Judges Say:
A Federal Judge’s Musings on Defendants’ Right and Rite of Allocution,
NACDL, The Champion, March 2011
Judge Mark Bennett, My basic principles of allocution include:
(1) be sincere.
(2) discuss what “taking full responsibility” means;
(3) acknowledge that there are victims (e.g., even when the PSR indicates “no identifiable victim,” as it does in most drug cases);
(4) an understanding of how the crime affected the victims;
(5) express genuine remorse;
(6) a plan to use prison or probation time in a productive manner;
(7) a discussion of why the defendant wants to change his or her criminal behavior; and, perhaps most importantly,
- a true desire to learn a specific trade and a request to go to a specific Bureau of Prisons institution that offers that trade can sometimes be beneficial.
(8) information that helps humanize the defendant and the defendant’s role in the crime.
THE FEDERAL LAWYER • September/October 2019
VIEWS FROM THE BENCH, Own the Mistake – Demonstrate Sincere Remorse
Judge Richard G. Kopf of the District of Nebraska,
One of the best allocutions I have ever heard was:
“Judge, I want to atone for what I did to the victims and my family. I deserve some prison time. I hurt the victims, I hurt my family and I’ve hurt myself. When I get out, I am ready to take the following steps.”
Judge Jon D. Levy of the District of Maine in Portland, “Allocution matters,”
“I will never hold poor communication skills against a defendant. What’s important is whether I am persuaded that the defendant is sincere and demonstrates insight about the crime…”
Judge Cynthia A. Bashant of the Southern District of California
“I want him to apologize to the victim and his or her family, particularly if they are in the courtroom. Just like a parent with a child who has done wrong, I am looking for ‘insight’ from the defendant,”
Judge Marcia S. Krieger of the District of Colorado in Denver, has “seen allocutions where a defendant has shown that he is sincere and thoughtful about what he is saying.”
It is very important for the lawyer to prepare his client for allocution if allocution is to be made
It is essential for Judge Krieger that a defendant “publicly admit his shame,” which shows her that he has internalized his crime
If You Suspect You’re The Target of a Federal Investigation | Before The Presentence Interview (PSI) | After The PSI – But Before The Sentencing Hearing | After Sentencing or You’re Already Incarcerated | There Are Still Things We Can Do
For a No Obligation Free Consult Call Dr.Blatstein at: 240.888.7778, or by email. Dr. Blatstein answers and personally returns all of his calls.