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The Firm is happy to announce that today we defeated a life sentence in federal court. Eleven years ago, while represented by different counsel, D.E. was sentenced to life imprisonment for a non-violent drug offense. Because he had at least two prior drug convictions, he received a mandatory life [...]
In the past two years we have heard that Congress is on the brink of passing legislation that would reform our criminal justice system — by shifting away from the practice of warehousing drug offenders in prison, and moving in the direction of rehabilitation. This was one thing, it was [...]
Brian Parker, a client of the Firm, was cleared today of all federal charges against him. Federal prosecutors had alleged that Parker was a leader of a Cherry Hill drug conspiracy. But yesterday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed to drop all charges against him, and a motion to dismiss was [...]
Lost in the excitement over the Supreme Court’s blockbuster decisions last week was a significant, albeit technical, case dealing with federal sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). The ruling should help a significant number of federal defendants who are serving harsh mandatory [...]
The Law Office of C. Justin Brown this week obtained a sentence reduction of 97 months for a federal inmate. Sentence reductions of this magnitude are rarely seen in federal court. The client was convicted on drug charges in 2007 following a four-day jury trial. He was sentenced to 240 months (20 [...]
Remember when it looked like the Fourth Circuit was on the brink of a significant change? When, after Obama got his nominees on the court, it would go from being super conservative to progressive? Well, that day has not yet come. The court today issued a major opinion that is heartbreaking for a [...]
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals this month issued a disappointing en banc opinion in U.S. v. Whiteside. At issue was whether Whiteside could obtain relief from a sentence in which he had been wrongly classified as a career offender. The panel held that he could not get relief because his [...]
In an extraordinary decision with sweeping consequences to federal drug sentencing, the United States Sentencing Commission has voted unanimously to make the two-point drug reduction for federal prisoners fully retroactive. According to the Commission, the amendment will have an instruction that [...]
“We owe C. Justin Brown such a debt of gratitude and there is nothing I can write in this review that will do justice to how my family and I feel about him and the job he did in representing my brother in a recent criminal defense case. Last year, my brother was arrested for possession of [...]
A recent Fourth Circuit opinion gives some needed relief for a limited class of federal inmates. Whiteside v. United States opens the door for convicted defendants to bring post-conviction claims, under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, based on their erroneous classification as career offenders. This is likely [...]