For the past 26 years, I've been committed to defending individuals charged with federal drug crimes in Los Angeles and throughout the country. I understand the unique dynamics of Los Angeles and the Central District, particularly among the prosecutors and judges, and I'm here to support you.
A lot of the cases that I deal with are because of the amount of narcotics and because the individual is usually charged under a trafficking umbrella, meaning they're somehow involved in moving narcotics to be sold.
Either they're the mule moving a lot of drugs and being paid a small amount of money, as compared to the large amount of money that's going to be made on the drugs, or maybe they're the supplier of the drugs, or maybe the person receiving the drugs, or perhaps they're the person that it's unclear what their role is in the conspiracy to move drugs.
Drug charges may become federal at any time because drug offenses are both state and federal. Understanding how drug charges become federal requires contextual knowledge about criminal prosecution and jurisdiction in the United States.
Our California federal criminal defense attorneys are well-versed in the potential defense strategies for federal drug charges. We can review your case and provide you with a clear understanding of your legal options.
The five most significant ways that a drug charge can become federal are:
- A federal informant named you
- A federal officer made your arrest
- The crime occurred on federal property
- The crime involved crossing state lines or out of the country
- The catch-all category.
In addition to the ways above, it is also important to remember that it is possible to be prosecuted by both the federal and state governments on separate occasions without a double jeopardy violation. There is a significant difference in the length of sentencing between state and federal penalties. Federal punishments are almost always harsher than state punishments, often resulting in longer prison sentences and larger fines.
Federal Law Enforcement Agencies
In a lot of these drug cases in Los Angeles, the federal agents — FBI, DEA — are using wire-tap evidence to catch people. In other words, they either get information from informants and then they get a wire-tap warrant and start listening to those people who they think are involved in drugs.
Or maybe they do their investigation without using an informant — target certain people who they believe are involved in drugs, and then they start to monitor those people through surveillance — they'll follow them around and videotape them. They'll watch them and take pictures of them.
Sometimes, they'll get a warrant so they can put a GPS tracking monitor on their car. This will make it easier to follow them around and see where they're going and what they're doing.
Of course, they'll listen to the wiretaps, and then, as the wiretaps go along, they follow people based on what's indicated on the wiretap. A lot of times, they will seize drugs as part of their investigation.
They hear that there's going to be drugs used. They're able to figure out where those drugs are going. They grab the drugs. Sometimes, they arrest the person; sometimes, they let the person go who has the drugs.
The problem with arresting the person who has the drugs is that if they file a case against them, that person's attorney will want all the information related to the case. This will include the wiretap and other evidence, and the federal government is usually kept from giving up all that evidence in these significant drug crime cases.
They like to do a full investigation, finish it, and then arrest everybody simultaneously so people don't know they're coming. It makes it easier to arrest and catch everybody simultaneously and probably a lot less dangerous for them because the people don't know they're coming to arrest them.
A lot of times, when they arrest people who are moving drugs, they either let the person go or give the person a court date in one of the state courts where the case is pending and then they don't end up filing the case at that point because they don't want to give up the information.
Federal Drug Conspiracy Charges
They later end up indicting that person in a federal drug conspiracy along with other people who are involved, and as I said, they don't like to go piecemeal and grab people one at a time. They want to figure out where all the targets are of their drug conspiracy investigation and try they can to arrest them all at the same time; that way, people can't flee the country, hide drugs, or hide weapons.
Many times, when they arrest these people, in addition to the information they have for a wiretap, surveillance, and investigation, they're also able to capture a bunch of other evidence at the time of the person's arrest.
For example, if they go to their home, they might find drugs, money, or other things that help prove the case against them. So, they love to get that search warrant for their car, home, person, and devices—there are all sorts of things that the feds can get to try to prove one of these federal drug crime cases, such as drug paraphernalia, communication records, and financial documents.
So, that gives you a little background on investigating a Los Angeles drug crime. You also have to look at how they prosecute these cases and the punishment for people.
How Is It Decided If a Drug Case is Filed at the State or Federal Level?
This is a good question because many people get raided by either the state or the feds or both, and they are not sure sometimes whether the feds will pick up the case or whether the state will prosecute it.
Sometimes, the state begins to prosecute the case, and later, in the middle of the case, the feds come in and file the same case, and then the state dismisses their case because you can't be prosecuted for the same thing in two different locations.
The bottom line is that many people seek answers about when the feds pick up a particular case. The feds don't prosecute that many cases. For example, there's a massive difference between state prosecution in drug cases and federal prosecution.
The dividing line is the sheer magnitude of a particular case. In other words, the state will probably prosecute if it's a minor dope deal done on the corner in a local neighborhood.
However, I have seen the feds pick up big, kilo drug deals where the person would face the 10-year mandatory minimum. Sometimes, they will take those cases if they are the ones that originated the investigation or if they decide to file it for some other policy reason.
But usually, you'll see the feds taking on the significant cases where there are many moving parts. They have more resources to prosecute the people involved.
A perfect example is these cases where gang members are involved with selling drugs, dealing with guns, and committing other violent felonies. Sometimes, the state does not have the workforce or resources to do what's necessary to prosecute that case correctly.
So, the feds will come in, surveil it, get wiretap warrants, and have the workforce compared to the state to prosecute those significant cases.
Of course, if the feds suppose the feds prosecute the case. In that case, looking at a lot more time – a minimum of 10 years depending on how much narcotics are involved, and if a gun is involved in the narcotic movement, then that's an additional five years right there, so you've got 15 years' mandatory minimum in a lot of these cases – and that's a minimum.
They could get more time depending on the person's criminal record, the amount of narcotics they were dealing with, and many other factors. So, when you're talking about which drug cases the feds will pick up, you're talking about the bigger ones. Of course, there are some exceptions, but usually, it will be a big case.
The small-level cases involving people who are not gang members and are not dealing with large sums of cash, large sums of narcotics, movement of guns, or gang activity, the feds are not usually going to touch the case. They'll just let the state deal with it.
Federal Agents Seeking Cooperation to Arrest Others
So, drug crimes, specific to any other crime, lend themselves well to the feds trying to get people to cooperate so they can catch other people. That's the way the whole federal Los Angeles drug crime system is set up. They want you to come in. They want you to talk to them.
They want you to give them information so they can lock you in and lock in other defendants indicted with you to make it easier to prosecute them. Of course, they love to go out and arrest new people and either add them to the indictment or create a separate indictment related to those particular people.
So, a lot of ways that the feds continue to get drug cases is when they catch people who are involved with drugs. Those people have information about other people, and their attorneys tell them, and they realize that by cooperating with the feds, they can lessen their sentence.
Sometimes they can avoid a 10 or 20 year mandatory minimum sentence at 85% if they cooperate with the government and the government has the ability to shave time off their sentence — and not just a coupe of months — the government can shave years off of somebody's time if that person is giving substantial cooperation to them.
So, you get a feel for how these drug crimes work. To get more detail related to your particular case — because all cases are different — you need to sit down with somebody like me who's been doing this for 26 years, give all your information, and review options if convicted.
It will all be held confidentially, and then we can start to develop a plan to get you out of the criminal federal drug system as fast as possible.
Best Federal Drug Crime Defense Attorney
If you or a loved one is charged with a federal drug crime, you will want to get the best to defend you. In most cases, if the feds decide to file them, the person is looking at a 10-year mandatory minimum in federal prison served at 85%.
So, you want to get the best to try to avoid that minimum, and the best defense attorneys will devise strategies to fight the case and win it if possible or devise some mitigating circumstance to get you below that 10-year mandatory minimum.
Limited weapons are available in a federal criminal defense case, so you want to ensure that you get the right attorney in the best position moving forward. I've been practicing federal criminal defense and doing federal drug crimes for over 30 years nationwide.
Reviewing the Details of the Case
Could you please come into my office? We'll review all of the facts and details surrounding your case so we can decide whether to fight it or resolve it.
If a case should be resolved, we will figure out the best game plan moving forward. What that entails, exactly how we're going to deal with the government, how we're going to deal with the evidence in the case, and what can we do to put together the best possible defense for you?
That will take you to my office. Could you be honest and tell me what's happening? Then, I will give you options for resolving the issue.
Was There Any Improper Police Misconduct?
If it's a drug crime case, we'll look at if there was any type of misconduct by law enforcement, such as the following:
- whether or not the stop in your case was legal;
- whether the search in your case was legal;
- whether or not the government has evidence against you.
Sometimes, I get cases where other people are talking on wiretaps, for example, and you're not caught on the wiretap. So then the issue is going to be:
- were you found with drugs?
- did you know the drugs were there if you were found with drugs?
- did you know how many drugs there were?
- what is your role in the crime?
- What are the prosecutors able to prove?
- What evidence do they have?
We will ask these questions to determine how to fight your drug case best. So, if you need the best, you've come to the right place. In the early 1990's I began defending people at the federal level involved in drug cases. Whether they were the dealer in the case or just a mule in the case, moving the drugs from point A to point B.
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