Category: Court
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You Know You Can’t Run Forever, Right? Often, Kyle Sandler, founder of Federal Prison Tips, gets asked: was it worth it to run? Why? Because he was on the run for 17 months to evade prosecution. He used to think running was worth it, and that he got sentenced correctly considering the totality of his…
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Seems Like Everything Is Sophisticated These Days, Huh? The sophisticated means enhancement is one of the most overused enhancements applied by U.S. Attorney’s office across the United States. Looking at white collar charges time and time again, it looks as though federal prosecutors try to slap a sophisticated means enhancement on anything that’s a white…
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Many Believe Judges Are Another Cog In The Machine, But The Government Doesn’t Always Win The judge has the final say in anything you bring to court. Whether that’s a 2241, 2255, compassionate release motion, or any kind of appeal. People who have been burned by jailhouse lawyers will quickly remind you of that. But,…
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Haven’t We Seen This Before? It’s official. The United States courts are being affected by the government shutdown. It will be just like it was in 2018. The resolution of many civil matters are being delayed, and probation is seeing clients via zoom call and phone appointments. All of these government offices are seeing reduced…
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What Is It, And Why Does It Matter? Allocution is when you speak on your own behalf during the sentencing phase of a criminal court case. The judge will ask if you, the defendant, has anything to say before moving on to sentencing, and it is at this point that you can speak honestly, from…
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A Judge Can Request The BOP To Do Lots Of Things – But They Don’t Have To If you’re facing sentencing on federal charges and your lawyer is telling you that he’ll simply ask the judge to recommend RDAP and you’ll get the year off, think again. Lawyers rarely know how it works after sentencing.…
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Sentencing Guidelines Bring Massive Changes To Supervised Release On November 1st, 2025, massive changes to supervised release will take effect. The United States Sentencing Commission released a new amendment that will eliminate mandatory supervised release for federal prison sentences. If the judge feels that the defendant needs a term of supervised release to meet the…
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What Can A 2241 Motion Do? Habeas Corpus is a Latin term that means “you have the body.” This motion allows inmates in federal prison to challenge the legality of their confinement based on the conditions or other elements. If an inmate is being held past their conditional release date as per their First Step…
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Formal Downward Departures Vanish In November Now, it’s more important than ever to make sure you have a good criminal defense attorney if you’re facing federal court and prison time as a defendant. In 2025, the United States Sentencing Guidelines will implement the Sentencing Commission’s changes for this year’s amendment cycle. One of those changes,…
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Guideline Amendments Disappoint Federal Prison Inmates Inmates in Federal Prison look forward to the United States Sentencing Commission’s annual guideline amendments. This year was especially hopeful as there was a proposed amendment eliminated the disparity between methamphetamine mix and pure methamphetamine as well as an amendment that would eliminate the ability to look at state…
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Guidelines Amendments That Could Make Waves Most people think cutting your time after a federal prison sentence means you have to “snitch,” either providing information that leads to an arrest, testifying in court, or both. And, for years, a sentence reduction pursuant to 5K1.1 meant exactly that. But, there is a sentencing guideline amendment proposed…
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Hint: There’s A Reason It Doesn’t Happen Often Federal Prison Tips specializes in post conviction work. We have 11 staff members and three paralegals. Our work speaks for itself – our testimonial videos are everywhere, and you have probably come across a few. But we, most other post-conviction firms, and even law firms shy away…
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So, what is a Federal Detention Center as opposed to a Federal Prison? Federal detention centers are where some defendants are housed on federal charges prior to going to federal court. If you’ve been picked up by the DEA or FBI and don’t make bond or aren’t given a bond, you’ll wait for your day…
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“I thought the statute of limitations was up.” That’s something we hear a lot from people in federal prison on a drug conspiracy charge or any other kind of conspiracy. Why does it seem like the statute of limitations is irrelevant in these kinds of cases? Well, federal prosecutors have a tool called an “overt…
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Seen here and in the video above is the sentencing guideline table. If you’re headed to federal prison or just recently got indicted in the federal court, it’s important to know that the sentencing guideline table is not what determines the security level of the institution in which you’ll be incarcerated. This only determines how…
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What Can You Do If Your Pre-Sentence Report (PSR) Is Incorrect? As a defendant in federal court facing a federal prison sentence, you have a right to dispute or challenge what probation officers place on your pre-sentence report. A lot of people don’t understand the consequences of what’s written, or recognize it too late. We’ve…
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Sunshine And Rainbows Don’t Accomplish Anything We recently had a consulting call from an executive who was facing five to seven years in federal prison for a crime that resulted in an actual loss of over $1 million. In asking for our opinion, he mentioned that his attorney told him they are hopeful for home…
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Asking For Your Prison Of Choice Might Not Get You Where You Want When you’re being sentenced, most clients and defendants want to be prepared to make their preference known to the judge. They want to spend hours researching different prisons to make the best choice for the next several years in their life. The…
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Are Judge’s Choices In Accepting Recommendations Limited? When you’re in federal court facing time in federal prison, is it possible for your judge to go below a jointly recommended sentence from the U.S. attorney and your defense attorney? This question comes from an ongoing discussion in our Facebook Group, which is also called Federal Prison…
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Has The Day Finally Come? Have you heard the rumor that some felons may see their Second Amendment rights restored? Well, it’s 100% true. President Donald J. Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Pardon Attorney Ed Martin are teaming up together to discuss, reinstitute, and revitalize U.S.C. 925(c), which outlines the pathway in which non-violent…