If you’ve been charged with a federal crime, you need to know what penalties the prosecutor might be planning to use against you, or how the judge might rule. What makes federal charges harsher than state charges is the use of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines created by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency within the judicial branch.
Your criminal record will be weighed according to a point system that takes into account your charge, any prior criminal offenses, and other factors. Using this point system, your judge will determine an appropriate sentence within the suggested range in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
Then you must take into account mandatory minimum sentences, which are set by Congress and apply only to certain crimes. If your charges trigger a mandatory minimum sentence, your judge will be forced to sentence you to a long period behind bars, without discretion or leniency.
The Difficulty of Predicting Your Sentence
By weighing your prior criminal record against the offense level of the crime you’re charged with, there is a wide range of potential federal sentences you could be facing. For instance, let’s say you’re accused of a fairly ‘minor’ federal crime, but you have a lengthy record of prior offenses—your judge could sentence you for 10 years or more, whereas someone with no criminal record might get a sentence of less than half that.
However, by the same token, let’s say you’re accused of a serious federal offense, but you have no criminal record. In fact, this is your first run-in with the law. The judge has the discretion to grant you leniency and give you an easy sentence, but they also have the power to put you away for 30 years (or for the rest of your life), depending on the degree of seriousness of your charge.
To give you an idea of how many potential sentence ranges you’re facing, there are 43 levels of federal offenses in the sentencing guidelines, multiplied by 6 different levels of criminal history categories. That’s 258 potential sentence ranges!
Get an Experienced Federal Defense Lawyer in Fort Lauderdale
Getting charged with a federal crime means you’re facing the full power of the federal prosecutor’s office and by extension the Department of Justice. Federal law enforcement tools, vast and well-funded, may have been used (or will be used) to investigate your case and ensure that the charges against you are as strong as possible.
What you need in your corner is a defense attorney with experience in federal court, an attorney who is neither intimidated nor impressed with the full power of the U.S. government brought to bear on your case. Rudenberg and Glasser, P.A. has handled thousands of cases, including federal charges of all levels and types. We’ve been defense attorneys and legal scholars for decades, contributing to our field both with published articles and proven defense strategies. We’ve helped countless people avoid jail time, get their charges reduced, or get their cases dismissed.
If you want a proven trial advocate for your federal case, we’re the ones to call. Dial (954) 543-1788 for help from our Fort Lauderdale federal defense lawyers.
