Ok, obviously none of you guys are marksmen, or are forgetting ear protection tech. Let me give you an example which should clarify this and give further clarity to the "always recording" argument.
Guns are LOUD...a lot louder than they seem on tv...typically 140 - 190db. When there is a gunfight in a room and people have a conversation afterwards on tv, I chuckle. Unless they are wearing hearing protection (colloquially: "ears") all they would hear after the gunfight would be ringing. It is mandatory on most outdoor ranges and all indoor ranges that people wear hearing protection. Three or four.45ACP shots in an indoor range without protection, and you're deaf for at least the rest of the day.
Cheap hearing protection tends to be earplugs or big muffs, like you might see on an airport runway. But competitive marksman typically use electronic "ears" that permit normal conversation via an external mic on the headphones (and in fact amplify normal sound up to 45db), but shut down for any gunshot, essentially a fast audio gate. And they work flawlessly.
Once you turn them on, they are always listening for any sound above 85db, which they will attenuate by at least 30db, usually much more. How is that possible, if they have to "hear" the sound before they protect your ears from it? Because they are insanely fast, on the order of 1 - 1.5 ms.
I suspect similar technology is being used in the "gunshot detection systems" and it is very possible to only record the gunshot if the threshold is above 85db.
I did not get Fed bail, but I was released for 14 days to get medical treatment I could not seem to get in Feds. After 14 months at Wyatt I was getting serious chest pain (probably from being in a constant combined state of fear and incredulity) and was getting no treatment at Wyatt. I petitioned my trial judge, and she ordered me sent to FMC (Federal Medical Center) at Devens, MA.
I arrived there and was immediately put in SHU (Special Housing Unit - the "Hole") and ignored for 22 days. My family and attorney were told I was "on the compound but not accepting calls or visitors." After three weeks of no contact, my attorney issued a writ of habeas, I was released from SHU, ordered to call my attorney and family, and tell them I was alive and well.
I was assigned a cell with an piece of shit - an AOL chatroom child molester, and there I stayed for another three months. Not a single medical procedure was performed on me. Finally, I came to an agreement with the Government: they would permit me to be released for fourteen days for medical treatment, if I would plead guilty to one count, and do five years. Blackmail? Obviously. But it was the best I was going to get, so I agreed.
I was released on a million bail (surety) and $10,000 cash. I put up my house and had to write a check (my wife did, actually) for $10,000. An ankle monitor was strapped on, and I was told I would only be permitted out of the house for medical appointments, to which I would be accompanied by police. I was told that if I stepped one foot out of the house without authorization, or my bracelet went off, I would be instantly violated, and lose my home and the $10,000.
Fourteen days later, after having a heart cath and a stent, I was back in court. I pleaded guilty to one count, and 90 days later was sentenced to 60 months. The $10,000 check was returned and surety voided the day I pleaded. I was a first-time offender, so you can freely assume Hammond will not even get the "lenient" treatment I received.
I spent 52 months in Feds from 2006 - 2010. IMVHO, this is what's happening, at least on the legal side. He will never get bail. He's innocent till proven guilty, of course, but fed bail is supposedly all about flight risk. "Danger to the community" implies guilt so it can't be used..technically. The question for the Magistrate (who usually decides bail, not the Trial Judge) is: does a set of conditions exist which will assure the defendant's appearance at court? And that, is typically up to the US Attorney or AUSA. I did not get bail and was held at Donald W Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, RI for 22 months before finally pleading out.
If Hammond goes to trial, he will never get out. 92% of all fed criminal cases plead out. Why? Because when the choice is possibly three mandatory life sentences vs five years, you end up taking the lesser of two evils. The Feds add all sorts of sentencing enhancements to make it so risky to roll the dice with a jury, it just isn't worth it. I was not guilty of the offense it was claimed I committed, but I couldn't risk the rest of my life on being able to convince 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.
Hammond's other option is USSG 5K1.1 (Sentence reduction for substantial assistance in convicting another criminal.) The Government must submit a motion for this reduction, IF they like what you snitch. There are other options such as the Safety Valve (for which Hammond is not eligible due to previous offenses. Rapper T.I. got out of prison after like 18 months for machine guns and silencers because he gave the Government substantial assistance. Real gangsta.
If Hammond miraculously gets out anytime within the next ten years, he got a 5K1.1, most likely. When the feds want you, you're fucked.
I had the dubious honor of having to deal with this piece of shit about two years ago.
Many years ago, I worked on a project called Movielink which was one of the first "download now, watch later" movie services, originally under the auspices of Sony Pictures. We launched a beta site in 2001, and I left to work on other projects.
Ten years later, I was contacted by one of the (ex) Sony Pictures folks, asking for help with a net stalker. All he had was a bunch of threatening emails, one of which had been sent from a standard mail client not Hush or a remailer. The IP was pretty easy, since it pointed to a group of properties (on one big plot) all owned by this Cox woman. (150 Grave Creek Rd, Eureka, MT 59917, 710 Grave Creek Rd, Eureka, MT 59917, 830 Grave Creek Rd Eureka, MT 59917) Once uncovered, she pulled out the stops and registered every possible permutation of my friend's name with "fuck" preceding or appended to each name. She must have registered fifty domains, and was making ridiculous claims about patent theft, and directly asking my friend for money to "shut down her investigative efforts."
We got lucky, I guess. In the cleartext email, she directly threatened my friend that she would "ruin him just for fun." Since she was in court with Obsidian, I wrote an amicus (jailhouse lawyer, remember? B) and promised I would send it to the Court and Obsidian's counsel the next day if she didn't transfer every domain with my friends name to him immediately. No threats. We never heard from her again, but every domain was transferred to my friend.
Her site still tops her own Google results. Why is this still a civil issue?
The whole point of CAMDASS is to eliminate communication delays by making the entire unit autonomous, with all the data necessary for surgery already on board.
Kazakhstan greatest country in the world. All other countries are run by little girls. Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium. Other countries have inferior potassium.
Kazakhstan home of Tinshein swimming pool. It’s length thirty meter and width six meter. Filtration system a marvel to behold. It remove 80 percent of human solid waste.
Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan you very nice place. From Plains of Tarashek to Norther fence of Jewtown. Kazakhstan friend of all except Uzbekistan. They very nosey people with bone in their brain.
Kazakhstan industry best in the world. We invented toffee and trouser belt. Kazakhstan’s prostitutes cleanest in the region. Except of course Turkmenistan’s
Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan you very nice place. From Plains of Tarashek to Norther fence of Jewtown. Come grasp the might penis of our leader. From junction with the testes to tip of its face!
Um, one problem. The National Endowment for the Arts was created in 1965. Please, if you would, explain how they could have been use as a money conduit in the 50's when they didn't exist till the middle of the 60's.
Roger Ailes has even reached/. Go see what the hard right loons post on the very busy Fox forum. It will amaze you, I promise.
I found a pretty neat site that has a lot of cool pictures of what appears to be a modern Russian plant.
In this picture we see the control panel and yeah, it looks like it is big fucking analog panel meters and red buttons. But there's a display that is obviously some sort of digital status..not sure if it's electrical or some valve array thing, but as OP said there is already apparently some digital already.
As digital a geek as I am, I actually downgraded my pool. The garbage "computers" I''ve had foisted upon me by pool guys are absolute crap. So I pulled all the expensive valve actuators and run it by turning valves, and backwashing manually.
I love tech and all the things I do and can do with it. But sometimes, simpler and analog works.
"The main task of this meeting are: to take Deng Xiaoping Theory and "Three Represents" as guidance, comprehensively implement the scientific concept of development, conscientiously study and implement the Congress, seventh session of the Fifth Plenum and the Central Economic Work Conference, in-depth study and implementation of the central leading comrades academicians important speech on the General Assembly, in-depth implementation of the State Council executive meeting of the spirit of 105. Review and sum up the knowledge innovation project to mobilize and organize the implementation of the hospital in-depth "Innovation 2020", the deployment priorities in 2011."
If they can actually understand this, I might as well sit in the corner and eat Twinkies for the rest of my pointless life.
Re:Convicted for "posession" ?
on
Angles On Anonymous
·
· Score: 3, Informative
They can quite easily hit you with a federal conspiracy charge. Your IP on a list of "downloaders of LOIC" is plenty for a search warrant. A creative examination of your hard drive will come up with enough "suspicious material" to convince a grand jury. (Free lunch and $8 per diem is plenty to convince a grand jury.)
So, ok, you then claim you did nothing. The AUSA says "we do not believe you. We think you are an OP in Anonymous and are charging you with violation of 18 USC 1030 How's twenty years sound, hm?"
And conspiracy is so tangential, that anyone can be accused of it for pretty much anything. For example, I say to you "Hey dude! How about a free pound of coke!" You jokingly say something like "LOL sure dude, bring a big straw." And we both laugh it off. But you're neighbor overhears and calls the cops/DEA.You just conspired to buy a pound of cocaine. And you'd lose in court, like 97% of fed trial defendants. But I digress. This is the conspiracy section of the federal hacking law:..... Whoever conspires to commit or attempts to commit an offense under subsection (a) of this section shall be punished as provided in subsection (c) of this section. (c) The punishment for an offense under subsection (a) or (b) of this section is— (1)
(A) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(1) of this section which does not occur after a conviction for another offense under this section, or an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph; and
(B) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(1) of this section which occurs after a conviction for another offense under this section, or an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph;....
Now, the AUSA says to you "ok, you have two choices. Go to trial, and I will beat you and you will absolutely do at least fifteen years. Or sign this admission of responsibility, plead guilty to this minor count and do five. Your choice."
Many people say "I'll fight!!" Almost all of them will reconsider that as they pass year 12 at Fort Dix.
$8,000? Damn, that's great. Hey I agree, there are good lawyers, I just was unlucky enough to not know any. I didn't hire a team at all. I had FIVE individual lawyers, one when I was arrested, who I fired when he failed to challenge the search (which was laughable), then another when the feds came for me, and the state dropped the charges. Him I fired after he blew a bail hearing HARD. Fucking moron, he pulled out some forensic psychiatrist who started challenging the case merits in a bail hearing. Asshole got me held without bail in Feds. The AUSA had a field day...he was actually laughing.
I studied fed law for the four years I did in the feds and if I had known then what I know now, I never would have spent a night in jail. And I don't think my attorneys were stupid, just amoral. Hey, if you can get a guy off for a bad search after a day, you won't earn much. Better to have to "fight" and charge $75k.
Here's the worst part: I spent almost $300,000, and still plead out. From the Alan Ellis site:
"Nearly 94% of all federal criminal defendants will plead guilty. Of the remaining 6% who go to trial, as many as 75% will be convicted; thus 97% of all federal criminal defendants will be sentenced. 80% of defendants will receive jail or prison time." If the feds want you, you're theirs.
Absolutely true, but that IMO allows extreme use of precedential law. I was arrested for something that did not involve the US in any way, nor any citizen or federal commerce. When I finally (three years later) was heard by my judge on my 2255 she did two things:
1) Cited Gonzalez v Raich a 2005 medical marijuana case decided by the SCOTUS. In it they say: "In assessing the scope of Congress’ Commerce Clause authority, the Court need not determine whether respondents’ activities, taken in the aggregate, substantially affect interstate commerce in fact, but only whether a “rational basis” exists for so concluding."
In other words, if the court can "rationally decide" (a distinctly subjective thing) that something MIGHT affect commerce, the case can absolutely be federal. So, she decided that my offense was federal because it MIGHT affect commerce.
2) Appeal to the Circuit, right? This is a slam-dunk. Nope. To proceed, the District judge must issue a Certificate of Appealability (COA). My judge decided that no Constitutional issue existed, and therefore chose not to issue a COA. I did appeal to the circuit for the COA, but apparently, if the district judge says no Constitutional issue exists, then it doesn't. Nothing for them to consider. Motion denied. Off you go then, there's a good lad.
So, sure, they only consider errors of law. Subjectively.
Smart move to proceed pro se. I just finished a few years in the feds, paid my attorneys middle six figures total, and they did nothing. Only when I started writing my own civil motions on collateral attack (specifically 28 USC 2255 ) did I get any traction at all. If I had to do it all over, I'd proceed pro se.
Little tidbit: you are indeed entitled to counsel if you are arrested, while you are in criminal proceedings. But if you lose an appeal, and have to proceed with collateral attack, that is civil and you are NOT entitled to counsel. Many people sit in prison because they have only civil remedies left.
Yep, only two counts, though I thought it would be one. Level 22 I guess is the higher, with three less for timely admission of responsibility, CH Level I, low end is 30 months. That's what he got. Sounds like he has at least a sympathetic AUSA. Mine drowned puppies for fun.
Not sure about the Camp: lots of people at Elkton self-surrendered. His PSI will mention every last action he "admitted" and many he didn't, which will all affect his custody with the BOP as relevant conduct.
I bet he goes to a Low. He's not on the BOP site yet.
Slashdot Mirror
Ok, obviously none of you guys are marksmen, or are forgetting ear protection tech. Let me give you an example which should clarify this and give further clarity to the "always recording" argument.
Guns are LOUD...a lot louder than they seem on tv...typically 140 - 190db. When there is a gunfight in a room and people have a conversation afterwards on tv, I chuckle. Unless they are wearing hearing protection (colloquially: "ears") all they would hear after the gunfight would be ringing. It is mandatory on most outdoor ranges and all indoor ranges that people wear hearing protection. Three or four .45ACP shots in an indoor range without protection, and you're deaf for at least the rest of the day.
Cheap hearing protection tends to be earplugs or big muffs, like you might see on an airport runway. But competitive marksman typically use electronic "ears" that permit normal conversation via an external mic on the headphones (and in fact amplify normal sound up to 45db), but shut down for any gunshot, essentially a fast audio gate. And they work flawlessly.
Once you turn them on, they are always listening for any sound above 85db, which they will attenuate by at least 30db, usually much more. How is that possible, if they have to "hear" the sound before they protect your ears from it? Because they are insanely fast, on the order of 1 - 1.5 ms.
I suspect similar technology is being used in the "gunshot detection systems" and it is very possible to only record the gunshot if the threshold is above 85db.
I did not get Fed bail, but I was released for 14 days to get medical treatment I could not seem to get in Feds. After 14 months at Wyatt I was getting serious chest pain (probably from being in a constant combined state of fear and incredulity) and was getting no treatment at Wyatt. I petitioned my trial judge, and she ordered me sent to FMC (Federal Medical Center) at Devens, MA.
I arrived there and was immediately put in SHU (Special Housing Unit - the "Hole") and ignored for 22 days. My family and attorney were told I was "on the compound but not accepting calls or visitors." After three weeks of no contact, my attorney issued a writ of habeas, I was released from SHU, ordered to call my attorney and family, and tell them I was alive and well.
I was assigned a cell with an piece of shit - an AOL chatroom child molester, and there I stayed for another three months. Not a single medical procedure was performed on me. Finally, I came to an agreement with the Government: they would permit me to be released for fourteen days for medical treatment, if I would plead guilty to one count, and do five years. Blackmail? Obviously. But it was the best I was going to get, so I agreed.
I was released on a million bail (surety) and $10,000 cash. I put up my house and had to write a check (my wife did, actually) for $10,000. An ankle monitor was strapped on, and I was told I would only be permitted out of the house for medical appointments, to which I would be accompanied by police. I was told that if I stepped one foot out of the house without authorization, or my bracelet went off, I would be instantly violated, and lose my home and the $10,000.
Fourteen days later, after having a heart cath and a stent, I was back in court. I pleaded guilty to one count, and 90 days later was sentenced to 60 months. The $10,000 check was returned and surety voided the day I pleaded. I was a first-time offender, so you can freely assume Hammond will not even get the "lenient" treatment I received.
I should probably write a book, I suppose.
I spent 52 months in Feds from 2006 - 2010. IMVHO, this is what's happening, at least on the legal side. He will never get bail. He's innocent till proven guilty, of course, but fed bail is supposedly all about flight risk. "Danger to the community" implies guilt so it can't be used..technically. The question for the Magistrate (who usually decides bail, not the Trial Judge) is: does a set of conditions exist which will assure the defendant's appearance at court? And that, is typically up to the US Attorney or AUSA. I did not get bail and was held at Donald W Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, RI for 22 months before finally pleading out.
If Hammond goes to trial, he will never get out. 92% of all fed criminal cases plead out. Why? Because when the choice is possibly three mandatory life sentences vs five years, you end up taking the lesser of two evils. The Feds add all sorts of sentencing enhancements to make it so risky to roll the dice with a jury, it just isn't worth it. I was not guilty of the offense it was claimed I committed, but I couldn't risk the rest of my life on being able to convince 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.
Hammond's other option is USSG 5K1.1 (Sentence reduction for substantial assistance in convicting another criminal.) The Government must submit a motion for this reduction, IF they like what you snitch. There are other options such as the Safety Valve (for which Hammond is not eligible due to previous offenses. Rapper T.I. got out of prison after like 18 months for machine guns and silencers because he gave the Government substantial assistance. Real gangsta.
If Hammond miraculously gets out anytime within the next ten years, he got a 5K1.1, most likely. When the feds want you, you're fucked.
Hm, interesting. I might indeed be able to offer a little, and anything to put this harpie off the net is worth a shot. Let me read and think.
Thanks again...
Hah, cool! Thanks for the link, and the vote of confidence. I appreciate the current links..I'll pass the data on to the appropriate folks.
I'd have to think about releasing the brief. I would rather it not become evidence in some future action. Maybe in the future...
Thanks again!
I had the dubious honor of having to deal with this piece of shit about two years ago.
Many years ago, I worked on a project called Movielink which was one of the first "download now, watch later" movie services, originally under the auspices of Sony Pictures. We launched a beta site in 2001, and I left to work on other projects.
Ten years later, I was contacted by one of the (ex) Sony Pictures folks, asking for help with a net stalker. All he had was a bunch of threatening emails, one of which had been sent from a standard mail client not Hush or a remailer. The IP was pretty easy, since it pointed to a group of properties (on one big plot) all owned by this Cox woman. (150 Grave Creek Rd, Eureka, MT 59917, 710 Grave Creek Rd, Eureka, MT 59917, 830 Grave Creek Rd Eureka, MT 59917) Once uncovered, she pulled out the stops and registered every possible permutation of my friend's name with "fuck" preceding or appended to each name. She must have registered fifty domains, and was making ridiculous claims about patent theft, and directly asking my friend for money to "shut down her investigative efforts."
We got lucky, I guess. In the cleartext email, she directly threatened my friend that she would "ruin him just for fun." Since she was in court with Obsidian, I wrote an amicus (jailhouse lawyer, remember? B) and promised I would send it to the Court and Obsidian's counsel the next day if she didn't transfer every domain with my friends name to him immediately. No threats. We never heard from her again, but every domain was transferred to my friend.
Her site still tops her own Google results. Why is this still a civil issue?
Hey why not actually RTFA?
The whole point of CAMDASS is to eliminate communication delays by making the entire unit autonomous, with all the data necessary for surgery already on board.
Kazakhstan greatest country in the world.
All other countries are run by little girls.
Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium.
Other countries have inferior potassium.
Kazakhstan home of Tinshein swimming pool.
It’s length thirty meter and width six meter.
Filtration system a marvel to behold.
It remove 80 percent of human solid waste.
Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan you very nice place.
From Plains of Tarashek to Norther fence of Jewtown.
Kazakhstan friend of all except Uzbekistan.
They very nosey people with bone in their brain.
Kazakhstan industry best in the world.
We invented toffee and trouser belt.
Kazakhstan’s prostitutes cleanest in the region.
Except of course Turkmenistan’s
Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan you very nice place.
From Plains of Tarashek to Norther fence of Jewtown.
Come grasp the might penis of our leader.
From junction with the testes to tip of its face!
I did some consulting for Apple, but never met Steve.
I have to say, that he affected my life more profoundly than any other person I never met.
RIP Steve.
Magnets? Incantations? Sand?
Dude. You know what a splitting maul is? It's a combination sledge/axe that splits logs.
1) Place drive on log
2) Apply high velocity force vectored through the head of said splitting maul in a 180 degree path.
3) Pick up halves and repeat step 2 if desired.
4) Drop quarters off the end of the dock into LI Sound.
Why get all complicated?
Twinkies do not have a shelf life, they have a half-life.
Um, one problem. The National Endowment for the Arts was created in 1965. Please, if you would, explain how they could have been use as a money conduit in the 50's when they didn't exist till the middle of the 60's.
Roger Ailes has even reached /. Go see what the hard right loons post on the very busy Fox forum. It will amaze you, I promise.
I found a pretty neat site that has a lot of cool pictures of what appears to be a modern Russian plant.
In this picture we see the control panel and yeah, it looks like it is big fucking analog panel meters and red buttons. But there's a display that is obviously some sort of digital status..not sure if it's electrical or some valve array thing, but as OP said there is already apparently some digital already.
I'm sure this will work out just fine.
As digital a geek as I am, I actually downgraded my pool. The garbage "computers" I''ve had foisted upon me by pool guys are absolute crap. So I pulled all the expensive valve actuators and run it by turning valves, and backwashing manually.
I love tech and all the things I do and can do with it. But sometimes, simpler and analog works.
No aid needed. The GOP has voted to send an emergency humanitarian shipment of tax cuts to the affected area.
Isn't CI "Confidential Informant" to the feds?
I quote from the OP link:
"The main task of this meeting are: to take Deng Xiaoping Theory and "Three Represents" as guidance, comprehensively implement the scientific concept of development, conscientiously study and implement the Congress, seventh session of the Fifth Plenum and the Central Economic Work Conference, in-depth study and implementation of the central leading comrades academicians important speech on the General Assembly, in-depth implementation of the State Council executive meeting of the spirit of 105. Review and sum up the knowledge innovation project to mobilize and organize the implementation of the hospital in-depth "Innovation 2020", the deployment priorities in 2011."
If they can actually understand this, I might as well sit in the corner and eat Twinkies for the rest of my pointless life.
They can quite easily hit you with a federal conspiracy charge. Your IP on a list of "downloaders of LOIC" is plenty for a search warrant. A creative examination of your hard drive will come up with enough "suspicious material" to convince a grand jury. (Free lunch and $8 per diem is plenty to convince a grand jury.)
So, ok, you then claim you did nothing. The AUSA says "we do not believe you. We think you are an OP in Anonymous and are charging you with violation of 18 USC 1030 How's twenty years sound, hm?"
And conspiracy is so tangential, that anyone can be accused of it for pretty much anything. For example, I say to you "Hey dude! How about a free pound of coke!" You jokingly say something like "LOL sure dude, bring a big straw." And we both laugh it off. But you're neighbor overhears and calls the cops/DEA.You just conspired to buy a pound of cocaine. And you'd lose in court, like 97% of fed trial defendants. But I digress. This is the conspiracy section of the federal hacking law: .....
Whoever conspires to commit or attempts to commit an offense under subsection (a) of this section shall be punished as provided in subsection (c) of this section.
(c) The punishment for an offense under subsection (a) or (b) of this section is—
(1)
(A) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(1) of this section which does not occur after a conviction for another offense under this section, or an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph; and
(B) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(1) of this section which occurs after a conviction for another offense under this section, or an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph; ....
Now, the AUSA says to you "ok, you have two choices. Go to trial, and I will beat you and you will absolutely do at least fifteen years. Or sign this admission of responsibility, plead guilty to this minor count and do five. Your choice."
Many people say "I'll fight!!" Almost all of them will reconsider that as they pass year 12 at Fort Dix.
Bicycles?
Phones?
Microwaves?
Luxury!!
You guys never fail to amaze me. That question is at the level of "where's the any key?"
Why is this modded troll? Y'all missing the sarcasm gene or what?
$8,000? Damn, that's great. Hey I agree, there are good lawyers, I just was unlucky enough to not know any. I didn't hire a team at all. I had FIVE individual lawyers, one when I was arrested, who I fired when he failed to challenge the search (which was laughable), then another when the feds came for me, and the state dropped the charges. Him I fired after he blew a bail hearing HARD. Fucking moron, he pulled out some forensic psychiatrist who started challenging the case merits in a bail hearing. Asshole got me held without bail in Feds. The AUSA had a field day...he was actually laughing.
I studied fed law for the four years I did in the feds and if I had known then what I know now, I never would have spent a night in jail. And I don't think my attorneys were stupid, just amoral. Hey, if you can get a guy off for a bad search after a day, you won't earn much. Better to have to "fight" and charge $75k.
Here's the worst part: I spent almost $300,000, and still plead out. From the Alan Ellis site:
"Nearly 94% of all federal criminal defendants will plead guilty. Of the remaining 6% who go to trial, as many as 75% will be convicted; thus 97% of all federal criminal defendants will be sentenced. 80% of defendants will receive jail or prison time." If the feds want you, you're theirs.
Absolutely true, but that IMO allows extreme use of precedential law. I was arrested for something that did not involve the US in any way, nor any citizen or federal commerce. When I finally (three years later) was heard by my judge on my 2255 she did two things:
1) Cited Gonzalez v Raich a 2005 medical marijuana case decided by the SCOTUS. In it they say: "In assessing the scope of Congress’ Commerce Clause authority, the Court need not determine whether respondents’ activities, taken in the aggregate, substantially affect interstate commerce in fact, but only whether a “rational basis” exists for so concluding."
In other words, if the court can "rationally decide" (a distinctly subjective thing) that something MIGHT affect commerce, the case can absolutely be federal. So, she decided that my offense was federal because it MIGHT affect commerce.
2) Appeal to the Circuit, right? This is a slam-dunk. Nope. To proceed, the District judge must issue a Certificate of Appealability (COA). My judge decided that no Constitutional issue existed, and therefore chose not to issue a COA. I did appeal to the circuit for the COA, but apparently, if the district judge says no Constitutional issue exists, then it doesn't. Nothing for them to consider. Motion denied. Off you go then, there's a good lad.
So, sure, they only consider errors of law. Subjectively.
Smart move to proceed pro se. I just finished a few years in the feds, paid my attorneys middle six figures total, and they did nothing. Only when I started writing my own civil motions on collateral attack (specifically 28 USC 2255 ) did I get any traction at all. If I had to do it all over, I'd proceed pro se.
Little tidbit: you are indeed entitled to counsel if you are arrested, while you are in criminal proceedings. But if you lose an appeal, and have to proceed with collateral attack, that is civil and you are NOT entitled to counsel. Many people sit in prison because they have only civil remedies left.
Yep, only two counts, though I thought it would be one. Level 22 I guess is the higher, with three less for timely admission of responsibility, CH Level I, low end is 30 months. That's what he got. Sounds like he has at least a sympathetic AUSA. Mine drowned puppies for fun.
Not sure about the Camp: lots of people at Elkton self-surrendered. His PSI will mention every last action he "admitted" and many he didn't, which will all affect his custody with the BOP as relevant conduct.
I bet he goes to a Low. He's not on the BOP site yet.