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April 28, 2010
State Must Prove Defendant's Knowledge of Driver's License Suspension
April 13, 2010
Sentencing Commission Votes to Eliminate Recent Criminal History Points
October 15, 2009
Consent to search inside of vehicle does not extend to locked containers
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Making phone calls to get drugs for personal use not a felony
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High standard needed to get Orchestrator enhancement
October 07, 2009
Topic: Criminal
The 11th circuit, which is among the more conservative courts in the US struck down a four level enhancement for a defendant where the government produced no evidence of that a defendant was the orchestrator of drug smuggling operation other than statements made in a PreSentence Report. In the case of Martinez v. U.S. the court held that "[w]hile a person who orchestrates a transaction may also be one who authorizes and supervises the transaction, the orchestrator just as easily could be a subordinate charged with dealing with the relatively minor details of completing that transaction."
The client Martinez' counsel did an excellent job of making written objections to the PSR and followed up with them at the sentencing hearing. In essence, this case is one of the government relying too heavily on the PSR and not proving its case at a sentencing hearing. When that occurs, defense attorneys need to be prepared to pounch. Our Jacksonville Florida criminal defense attorneys ensure that the government at every turn is held to its standard of proof.
