There are significant misconceptions about federal crimes. Many people assume that federal crimes are only “white collar” or “national security” type offenses. Nothing could be further from the truth. Approximately 55% of all federal prisoners, more than 30,000 of them,…
Category: Drug Crime
2015
Category: Drug Crime
In 3400 B.C., opium poppy was cultivated in the lower Mesopotamia. It was called the “joy plant” by the Sumerians.
Opium through the centuries has been hailed, and used, as a cure to pain. The famed English physician Thomas…
2015
Category: Drug Crime
Despite recent changes in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and new policies regarding drug sentencing issued by the Department of Justice, sentences in federal drug case remain draconian.
Section 841 of Title 18, United States Code, sets forth the minimum…
2015
Before 2011, few in this country had heard about “bath salts”—a synthetic drug which mimics amphetamine-like stimulants.
In 2009, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration estimated that more than 20 million Americans used an illicit drug at least once a…
2015
Category: Drug Crime | Federal Criminal Law
The Supreme Court has given us another reminder of why individuals should never consent to anything when approached by law enforcement conducting investigations.
Police all too often look for reasons to extend a legitimate traffic stop to allow…
2015
The “Congress Park Crew” was a loose-knit gang that ran a crack cocaine market in the Congress Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. for thirteen years. The Government indicted Desmond Thurston, Antwuan Ball, and Joseph Jones, along with twelve others, for…
2014
Category: Drug Crime | Federal Criminal Law
Kentucky is often a state of distinction for the wrong reasons. It ranks in the top ten of the two of the worst categories: corruption and meth labs. Both categories lend support to each other. The Kentucky States Police reported…
2014
Category: Drug Crime | Federal Criminal Law
In January 2012 the Texas Department of Public Safety realized it had a major problem with one of its employees—a forensic scientist named Jonathan Salvador who had been employed with the agency for six years. He was assigned to the…
2014
Category: Drug Crime | Federal Criminal Law
It has been hailed by privacy rights activists and legal scholars as the most significant U.S. Supreme Court decision in the “digital age.” The decision was handed down on June 25 in the case David Leon Riley v. California. The…
2014
Category: Drug Crime | Federal Criminal Law
PRESENCE OF “NARCO SAINT” LEADS TO DRUG CONVICTIONS
At the turn of the 20th century, Jesus Malverde was a Mexican bandit who roamed the hills of the state of Sinaloa, and as legend has it, stole from the rich…