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Pro Bono Reporter Volume 21 Summer 2016 7
CRIMINAL
San Francisco TeamNegotiates Dismissal of Criminal Charges for
Mother Accused of Obtaining False Prescriptions
San Francisco partner
Robb Adkins
, along with associates
Sean Meenan
and
Deepi Punia
, secured a favorable federal criminal prosecution settlement
for a young mother of two severely disabled young children. The client had
been arrested and indicted for her alleged role in a conspiracy to obtain false
prescriptions for OxyContin and other drugs for resale on the street. She faced
the daunting prospect of a felony conviction, jail time, and the likelihood that she
would be deported following her sentence due to her immigration status. She
was the only caregiver to her two children—one in a wheelchair and the other
with a debilitating and rare disease that severely limits her cognitive functioning,
requiring constant care. The team convinced the government of the truth regarding
the client’s minor role in the conduct and it made the highly unusual agreement
that permitted our client to withdraw her guilty plea if she complied with various
requirements of pre-trial services over a lengthy period of supervision.
Washington AssociateGreg Ewing Secures Reduced Sentence for Man
Convicted of Marriage Fraud
Working with the federal defender service, Washington, DC associate
Greg Ewing
, with
supervision from
TomBuchanan
, represented at sentencing a man who had accepted
a guilty plea to criminal conspiracy to violate federal immigration laws by arranging
fraudulent marriages for undocumented individuals. The federal sentencing guidelines
suggested a sentence of 18 to 24 months of imprisonment. At the sentencing hearing,
the team highlighted that our client had carried out only one minor action in the
enterprise, that the sentence range was inflated because of a 17-year-old minor drug
offense, and that our client had been gainfully employed for several months as a short
order cook. After a full hearing, the court imposed a reduced sentence of six months of
incarceration to be followed by six months of home detention.
Washington TeamAffirms Parole at RevocationHearing
Associate
Kim Paschall
, under the supervision of partner
Gordon Coffee
,
obtained an order from the U. S. Parole Commission fully reinstating the terms
of our client’s supervised release. The client was on parole from a drug-related
charge when he was arrested for allegedly
shooting at a food vendor who
gave a ride to a girl with whom he had a romantic relationship. The government
twice unsuccessfully prosecuted our client but
would not release him. At the
hearing, the team convinced the Commission to reinstate parole because the
vendor was not injured and the evidence against our client was too weak to
justify depriving our client of his liberty.
Sean Meenan
Greg Ewing
Kim Paschall