Hydrocodone pills, opioid painkillers similar to oxycodone. AP Photo by Toby Talbot

A Brooklyn Judge sentenced a 65-year-old army veteran to eight years in prison Wednesday and railed on him for contributing to the opioid crisis by selling thousands of oxycodone pills and forging over a hundred prescription pads.

“You were buying…literally thousands, thousands of oxycodone pills and selling them for substantial amounts of money,” Judge Leo Glasser said down to Doraymus Robinson in Brooklyn Federal Court. “Those pills are more serious than cocaine and heroin.”

Robinson’s lawyer, Paul Petrus Jr., argued for a five-year sentence he said was justified by Robinson’s two years of army service in the 70s as well as his health conditions and drug abuse. “I think that he got a significant sentence,” Petrus said. “And I know that the family is taking it very hard and he is too.”

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Most federal drug charges are federal conspiracy drug charges. sometimes it feels like the government has all but done away with federal drug charges, because it’s much easier to convict someone of conspiracy than it is to convict someone of possession of the drugs, because in the latter case, the person must have actual possession of the drugs. The trafficking of the drugs works in a similar manner.

With the conspiracy of a federal drug offense, it’s not required that the person actually take possession of the drugs or that the person to have had control of the drugs from afar. It’s sufficient for two people to engage in a conversation about drugs, and then for the defendant to make an action or step in the direction of possession of illegal drugs.

When one couples this with the fact that the punishment for conspiracy is the same punishment as actually trafficking or possession drugs, there’s no reason to charge someone with possession, when it’s so much easier to charge them with conspiracy. The ranges are 5 to 40 years, or 10 to life, depending on prior records. There are things that a person can do to receive a sentence below these minimums.

If you’ve been charged with a drug conspiracy or possession case in New York, speak with Criminal Defense Attorney Paul Petrus.

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Transcription:

I had this one case where this person was having drugs sent up from a Central American country via Fedex. The drug dealers in the Central American country had connections with Fedex, so they would pass through without being accurately scanned, and then the people would pick up the drugs from Fedex or have Fedex deliver it to a place of business in the New York City area.

Sometimes when people are arrested for these types of crimes, they are doing these crimes for money because they are up a creek, maybe there’s been a health issue in the family, maybe they’ve been laid off from work or perhaps their work ins’t cutting the bills. So they’re not true drug lords; they’re not true drug traffickers, but they’re called drug mules — they’re doing little things to effectuate the conspiracy.

Often the US attorneys recognize that, now while I recognize that compared to most other countries in the world we have some of the harshest penalties for criminal activity, particularly in drugs, and they’re far too harsh. But sometimes the prosecutors know that this is not the type of person that should go to prison for a minimum of 5 years or a minimum of 10 years. The person should have the opportunity to cooperate with the US attorneys office and receive a lesser sentence.

Now here’s the key: when you cooperate with the US attorneys office, one of the things a person has to do is they typically have to meet with typically the arresting agents and sometimes others and depending on how big the person involved in the drug conspiracy is, sometimes they send up people from Washington DC from the DEA down there. Experts at intelligence on drugs. I’ve had that happen with other people that are higher up that are higher up on the chain in the DEA or FBI. Typically it’s two agents and a prosecutor or two, and these meetings typically occur in a US government office. So when a person meets with the us attorneys office, one of the most important things is the client must be forthright and honest to the us attorneys office. They must be forthright and honest. And that’s one of the things that I strive to explain to my client, but not just explain to my client, I want to meet with my client and practice.

If you’re in search of a New York drug defense attorney, speak with Paul Petrus about his expertise in drug conspiracy cases and similar criminal charges.

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Return to Felony Drug Crimes

 Transcription

Felony drug crimes in the state of New York are broken down into different levels from A1 and A2, being the most severe charges for felony drugs crimes, to E felonies. There’s also what is called a drug kingpin law which requires mandatory prison sentences.

Some of these crimes can result in probation. Some of these crimes mandate prison and a person’s criminal record will be taken into account when determining what sort of punishment that person can receive.

Usually I find myself representing people charged in federal drug cases with having more than a kilo, but I’ve also had cases where they haven’t been charged with a kilo but actually possessed less than a kilo.
While I can’t count how many drug cases I’ve handled over my career, I can say that typically speaking marijuana, cocaine, and heroin tend to be the ones that I most often handle.

Sales, distribution, trafficking, all tend to bring felony charges where a person is looking at prison term. Sometimes on a very small street sale of small amounts of cocaine there wouldn’t be a felony charge. But typically speaking if a person is engaged in any serious amount of drug sales, we’ll bring felony charges. Them the only question becomes is, is the amount large enough or is the organization sophisticated enough for the federal government to take over the prosecution or to initiate.

Another issues also becomes the sophistication of the organization and how much time the federal government has spent investigating the case.

I mean, oftentimes, if the federal government has tapped phones, if they’ve been following certain defendants and investigating the case for a long period of time …

While perhaps when they make an arrest there won’t be kilos found there. There might be less. The federal government still hopes to try to turn various people who’ve been arrested into what’s colloquially called, snitches, in the hopes that those people will then turn over bigger fish for the federal government to fry.

That’s why it’s very important to have a criminal defense lawyer who works in this area and knows the area, the prosecutors offices well, because you never know whether the federal government or the state prosecutors office will take the case once you start getting into hundreds of milligrams of heroin or cocaine.

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Sales of small quantities of drugs on the street are typically a misdemeanor. The larger the amount of drugs – a kilo, for example – will often result in a felony charge at the state level.

Multiple kilos or more complex distribution schemes will result in a federal felony drug crime.

If you or a loved one has been charged with a misdemeanor or felony drug crime, contact NYC drug offense attorney Paul D. Petrus, Jr. immediately to schedule a free initial consultation.

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The Kingpin Law involves profits of $75,000 or more in one year made by an organization involved in the sale and distribution of illegal drugs. If a person is involved in an organization, particularly if they are the head of the organization, and have made over $75,000, they will be charged accordingly under NYC law.

If you or a loved one has been charged with violating the Kingpin Law, an experienced Manhattan drug crime attorney can help. Call Paul D. Petrus, Jr. today to schedule a free initial consultation.

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Oftentimes possession of a misdemeanor amount of drugs leads to a Desk Appearance Ticket (DAT) being issued. In this situation, the arresting officer takes the individual accused of possession to the police station to run a record check. If the individual has no active warrants and no criminal record, they are usually given a DAT listing a court appearance date and are then released.

If you have been given a DAT or charged with drug possession, contact New York City drug crimes attorney Paul D. Petrus, Jr. at 212-564-2440 for a free consultation.

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An A1 felony drug charge involves the possession of 8 oz or more of narcotics, or the sale of 2 oz or more of narcotics.

If you are facing an A1 felony charge, contact New York City drug crimes attorney Paul D. Petrus, Jr. at 212-564-2440 for a free consultation.

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Bitcoin is used legally around the world, but unfortunately it is also used illegally by those involved in the drug trade. Many people use Bitcoin for illegal activity under the assumption that transactions are completely untraceable, but that is not entirely true.

If you are being charged with or investigated for illegal activity related to Bitcoin, contact New York City federal criminal defense attorney Paul D. Petrus, Jr. at 212-564-2440 for a free consultation.

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In New York, cocaine possession in small amounts typically results in a misdemeanor charge. Although, as the quantity possessed increases, the risk of being charged with felony drug possession increases.

If you are facing drug possession charges in New York, contact New York City drug crime attorney Paul D. Petrus, Jr. at 212-564-2440 for a free consultation.

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