Double Win in White Collar Post-Conviction

After winning a state court post-conviction, and obtaining a new sentencing, a white collar client of the Law Office of C. Justin Brown was granted additional relief by a Circuit Court judge this week.
The Circuit Court Judge reduced the client’s sentence to a new term that should allow the client to get home by Christmas.
The Firm raised numerous issues on post-conviction, but ultimately the winning issue was the failure of trial counsel to properly calculate the defendant’s state sentencing guidelines. Although these are advisory guidelines, the trial court judge clearly attempted to sentence within this range. But, because he was misinformed about the proper guidelines range, and defense counsel failed to correct the error, the judge ended up sentencing the defendant in a significantly higher range.
The Firm’s success was largely due to extensive research and investigation into the client’s criminal history. The Firm was able to prove that the client’s convictions in another state were not as severe as they were purported to be in his pre-sentence investigation report. This error was enough to force the State to capitulate and agree to a new sentencing proceeding.
At the new sentencing, which was strenuously contested by the State, Brown presented the Court with the proper guidelines range, as well as mitigating evidence. The Judge then granted a reduced sentence.