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Transcription:

Because approximately 96 percent of all people charged in federal court are before a judge to be sentence, the most important part is the sentencing. The first thing that happens is a report written by the probation department, one by the attorney’s office, and another by the defense.

In New Jersey, if you agree to what the guidelines are, you can only argue with the guidelines, you can’t step outside of these guidelines. There’s two ways to go about this: one way is way that the defense lawyer argues that it should be low and wants the least amount of punishment. I think that’s a poor way to argue. I want to argue for the lowest possible sentence they can get, and that the court will allow.

The nice thing about the eastern seaboard is that there’s so many laws written. With some proper research you can find some decisions determined by the court of appeals, and you can use these to your advantage. I want to have the most on-point legal memorandum for my client, so when we go into the court for that hearing, I do everything I can with the law and the facts to get my client the best sentence possible.

Contact Manhattan Defense Attorney Paul Petrus for more information on trial preparation and pursuing the best sentence possible for your case.

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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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The arms export control act is a federal statute that sets out penalties for unlawful trade or sales of military weapons and military equipments. It could also be night vision goggles or special types of equipments or uniforms. Now, this is an offense that’s been occurring so often recently that because the US has been involved in so many wars. Obviously these wars require weapons and equipment. One thing the federal, state, and military departments have noticed is a lot of this equipment has gone missing or is unaccounted for. Some of this equipment has been ending up on the internet for sale or at gun shows.

Frankly it’s illegal to sell or steal equipment that you didn’t have the right to take after your time in the military. That’s been such an issue of importance that the military has set up officers that just investigation that just tracks down lost equipment, and the FBI is also involved in New York City.

I had a case where a former military member was being investigated not just by the FBI, but also by the military. The good news is I was able to convince the FBI agent and the military not to prosecute him, but it is something that is strictly enforced. It’s an area of law that has been taking off a lot lately in both the criminal area and the military side of it, because of the number of cases reported.

For more information on the Arms Export Control Act and ACEA Cases in New York City, contact Paul Petrus.

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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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Transcription Return back to Criminal Justice System

He received an outstanding defense at trial. The problem was that the system was so stacked against him. There was so much corruption and malfeasance on the part of the government, agents at the sheriff’s department and the judge. He made some proper decisions. It seemed that he did lean towards the prosecutor’s office and what he said at sentencing, his harshness towards Mr. Avery belied any jockeying he may have done to try to suggest that he was more open-minded or fair. I thought the defense lawyers did a great job. There were so many errors that they made. There were so many prejudices that they had towards Mr. Avery that came to light that’s one of the reasons why I felt that their criminal defense did such a good job because there was just so much against them.

Now I have, of course, had prosecutors and parole officers and probation officers act in inappropriate ways, engage in misconduct in my mind or do things that are unethical. I always keep my radar out for it. If they do that to one of my clients, I’ll be the first one to call them out and drag them before the judge, but to that extent that it occurred in Mr. Avery’s case, it was just a case of American justice really gone awry.

If you are looking for a New York criminal defense attorney, Paul D. Petrus Jr. can help you with his extensive experience in a variety of criminal areas. Mr. Petrus works in federal and state courts.

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Transcription Return back to Assault Charges

A lot of clients do try to handle it by themselves but it’s a mistake, it’s a grave mistake. If the person really believes they’re innocent or if they think, well maybe they did one or two things bad, but in their mind it didn’t rise to the level of a crime, or they don’t think anyone could prove that it’s a crime, then they feel like they can talk and try to get themselves out of trouble with the local law enforcement officer. They just generally try to talk themselves out of it and when you try to talk yourself out of it, inevitably you could misspeak, you could say something that’s not entirely true, you could exaggerate your conduct, you could minimize your conduct. While any of those four things is occurring, the detective or the federal agent who’s interviewing you, could have information that causes him or her to know that what you’re saying isn’t the complete truth and then that can be used against you.

If you are looking for a New York assault attorney, Paul D. Petrus Jr. can help you with his extensive experience in a variety of criminal areas. Mr. Petrus works in federal and state courts.

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Transcription Return back to Drug Crimes

Most federal drug charges are federal conspiracy drug charges. Sometimes, it seems that the federal government has all but done away from federal drug possession charges or federal drug trafficking charges. The reason for that is because it is much easier for the U.S. government to convict somebody of conspiracy to traffic or possess drugs than to actually convict someone of trafficking or possession of drugs in NYC. The reason why is because, to convict somebody of possession, the person must have actual possession or must have an agent that has the actual possession on his or her own behalf. The trafficking of the drugs works in a similar manner.

With the conspiracy to commit a federal drug offense, it’s not required that the person actually take possession of the drugs or that the person have control of the drugs from afar, it’s sufficient for two people to engage in a conversation about drugs, illegal drugs, heroin, cocaine, whatever the case may be, and, then, for the defendant, or the would-be defendant, to make what’s basically known as taking a stack or making some sort of action in the direction of attempting to either possess or to sell the drugs. This is obviously a much lesser threshold than it is to actually possess drugs or to actually trafficking them.

Now, when one couples that with the fact that the punishment for conspiracy to possess drugs or conspiracy to trafficking drugs is the same punishment as actually trafficking or possessing drugs. There is no reason for the federal government not to charge people with the conspiracy rather than with the actual possession or trafficking of the drugs.

If you are looking for a New York drug crime attorney, Paul D. Petrus Jr. can help you with his extensive experience in a variety of criminal areas. Mr. Petrus works in federal and state courts.

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Transcription Return back to Drug Crimes

I really believe that the federal drug sentencing guidelines are too harsh. I really believe against the mandatory minimums. I think that, broadly speaking, they do more harm than good and quite frankly long prison sentences that often accompany federal crimes, that only harm the defendant, which most people can agree that if somebody is a major drug trafficker or really even a minor drug trafficker, there should be some punishment for that. The problem is if the punishments are too harsh it also hurts their family. You have innocent people that are tied up in it: The wife, the children, the mother, the sister, the brother. I can’t tell you how many times, how many sad and broken family members that I’ve had to console because the possibility of punishment for a crime is out of whack with what the offense is. We do everything we can obviously to get them a much better deal and proud to say that the vast majority of my clients are very pleased with the punishment that they’ve received, if they’ve chosen to plead guilty.

If you are looking for a New York drug crime attorney, Paul D. Petrus Jr. can help you with his extensive experience in a variety of criminal areas. Mr. Petrus works in federal and state courts.

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Transcription Return back to Drug Crimes

The requirement for possession is there has to be some control over the actual item and in the State of New York there’s actually a defense, it’s called temporary innocent possession, and that’s where a person does have control of the drugs or of the illegal item but only for a very short period of time and it can be a defense. You have to exercise what’s typically phrased as control and dominion over the item. It’s not just a person has controlled the item for a few seconds or a few minutes, but that the person actually, I suppose generally speaking to think of an ownership of the item.

Burden of proof for that is the same as it’s always in criminal law, it’s beyond reasonable doubt. The government has to prove the beyond reasonable doubt. In New York State, if you argue that there was a temporary possession, temporary innocent possession of the illegal item, the government has to prove beyond reasonable doubt that defense is not viable, should not be believed by the jury.

If you are looking for a New York drug crime attorney, Paul D. Petrus Jr. can help you with his extensive experience in a variety of criminal areas. Mr. Petrus works in federal and state courts.

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