When I was first indicted I was facing “100 years”. No bullshit. I was originally charged with 5 class “c” counts of wire fraud and securities fraud. Both of those felonies carry a statutory maximum of 20 years in Federal Prison. Because of this, when the news started picking up my story, nationwide, they all said I was facing “100 years” based on those statutory maximums. However, what you need to understand, is that it’s rare that anyone in the “feds” does the statutory maximum.
Instead of the statutory sentencing, the Federal Courts are guided by the United States Sentencing Guidelines. The guideline were created by the United States Sentencing Commission in 1984 to help reduce sentencing disparities and promote fairness in federal sentencing.
The guidelines can be found on this sentencing table (also linked below) which has a vertical and horizontal axis based on criminal history and offense level.
The United States Sentencing Guideline manual, which is updated just about every year, covers every type of Federal crime and precribes an “offense level” for each crime. On the table itself the offense level is found going down the left side of the page, as shown, and the defendant’s criminal history score is represented across the top (horizontal axis).
Once the base offense level is established, just about every crime has other mitigating factors, that are typically assessed by a United States Probation Officer in the Pre-Sentence Report. Examples of these “enhancements” are “was the drug transaction done in a school zone” or did the fraud feature “sophisticated means”.
The defendant and their lawyer can challenge these enhancements within 14 days of the PSI being “published” and again at sentencing (unless for some reason precluded by a plea agreement).
You can download the sentencing guidelines here.
We help our clients navigate the sentencing guidelines and mitigate the best sentence possible, before and after sentencing. Find out more about our services here and contact us here.
