Atlanta Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

In a case arising out of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, the Supreme Court of the United States limited the exclusionary rule by holding that where an unlawful search results from isolated police negligence, the evidence obtained from that unlawful search may still be used against a criminal defendant. The exclusionary…

The United States Supreme Court issued an opinion on Tuesday resolving a split in the circuits regarding whether failure to report for prison is a violent felony for the purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). This federal law provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of fifteen years or up to life imprisonment for…

Former Clinch County Superior Court Judge Brooks E. Blitch III faces numerous federal charges for various alleged public corruption activities, ranging from fixing cases to making illegal payments to courthouse employees. Last Monday, two of the charges, involving retaliation against witnesses, were thrown out by the U.S. District court. The federal statute that was the…

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said he has spoken with U.S. Attorneys about a possible death penalty trial against Brian Nichols in federal court for the killing of an off-duty federal agent. In March 2005, Nichols was on trial for rape in the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia. He escaped from custody and,…

On November 14, the United States Supreme Court agreed to review an Eleventh Circuit decision interpreting a federal criminal law. This decision held that firing a gun during a violent crime requires a sentence of at least ten years, even if the gun went off unintentionally. The Eleventh Circuit is located in Atlanta, Georgia and…

Some prosecutors are a little like complaining children, they are never satisfied unless they get their way, and they will continue to whine for a long time until they do. This past Friday, in an appeal involving a white collar federal criminal prosecution the Supreme Court took a case to answer whether federal prosecutors can…

The Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Justice issued a massive report earlier this week concerning how the various federal prosecutors around the country are doing (or not doing) their jobs. While there’s a lot of truth to the old saying about “lies, damn lies and statistics”, the numbers in this…

Criminal cases in the federal courts here in Atlanta are no different than in other parts of the country. Criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors make their arguments in front of federal judges, who under our Constitution are appointed to lifetime positions by the President, with the consent and approval of Congress. However, what happens when…

We represent a lot of folks charged in federal criminal cases here in Atlanta, and other parts of Georgia and on occasion in Florida or Alabama. One thing we repeatedly see is when our clients have prior convictions that the prosecutor can use to greatly increase the potential sentence. Yesterday, the United States Court of…

We are working on a federal criminal case here in Atlanta where one of the issues is whether the police broke the law when a wife gave them her husband’s computer and the police then searched through it finding incriminating materials. This is becoming more and more common, questions revolving around whether one person can…