Can Federal Charges Be Reduced Or Dismissed? Chris Combs and Andrew Russek, lawyers with Combs Waterkotte, a leading federal criminal defense firm, talk about proffers, probation, and federal criminal charges.
Interview Transcript
Scott Michael Dunn: What if you try to get probation or you’re trying to get a dismissal or– how does that work on a federal level?
Chris Combs: I’ll talk briefly about it, and I’ll hand it over to Andrew.
So, as I mentioned, once you get your pretrial release hearing and they decide whether or not they’re gonna detain you till the outcome of your case, or they’re going to release you into the community, again, you just get that one court date to file pretrial motions.
So if you can’t work something out, and/or upon our thorough discovery review, we find legal maneuvers and motions that are worth filing to get counts dismissed.
Scott Michael Dunn: Mm-hmm.
Chris Combs: It’s, again, it’s just critical that you’ve got a team behind you to work on that. Now, there’s multiple avenues towards reduced sentences, and charges getting dismissed by filing those pretrial motions.
There’s also something called a proffer, where if the government thinks you have information that could behoove them and is a benefit to them, you sign an agreement– and this is going back to why you never just talk to the agents on scene, right?
You’re never getting credit for that. You have to loop in a federal prosecutor. Defense attorney, your client, federal prosecutor, go sit in a room and, there’s only really two agreements to, to a proffer– correct me if I’m wrong: If you talk about anything violent or homicide that can be used against you, and you can’t lie. Other than that, they expect you to spill your guts.
Andrew Russek: Yes.
Scott Michael Dunn: Or they expect you to flip.
Chris Combs: Yes. Or, or they’ll have you– If you’re under indictment, they don’t really want you to be a registered CI– confidential informant– because that can look bad on the government and, people who are wrapped up in the federal court system, more often than not, they know what’s going on.
They are much more in tune with what’s happening than your state court clients, because they talk, they do their research. And we see that a lot too. But, that being said… I mean, Andrew, what do you think?
Andrew Russek: On a proffer, it can be a good avenue to secure you the best outcome, whatever that may be.
Scott Michael Dunn: Mm-hmm.
Andrew Russek: That you can see it as a way to get points off your final disposition. You can see it as a way to potentially avoid indictment if you’re not yet indicted, and it’s a pre-indictment proffer.
You can maybe see it as a way to get a better deal, which maybe some of your counts [get] dismissed.
As Chris said, the important part there is that when you sit down with them, they know everything about you. Most likely, the first 10 questions they ask you, they already know the answer to, and they’re just seeing if you’re being honest.
So, A. You need an attorney to make sure that you are advised: “Here’s what they know, here’s why. You can’t necessarily try and hide this. Here’s what they want to know.”
It’s not always just that they want you to flip. Sometimes they want you to explain what these checks mean, help them understand how a process worked, et cetera. That’s maybe helping them with other investigations, or your investigations. Sometimes you’re snitching on yourself, and you’re just being forthright with things, but you’re gonna get credit for that when you’re in front of a judge.
So a proffer can be an extremely important tool. You do it by yourself, you could be walking yourself into a lion’s den. That’s why it’s important to have an attorney there to help you with everything. Work out the agreement, make sure it’s used right at sentencing, but also that you don’t catch a charge for lying to them during a proffer, or leaving something out.
Chris Combs: And there’s certain things– sorry– there’s just certain things federal prosecutors hate. So you need the experience of an attorney to say, “Look, you go in there and minimize your involvement, you’re gonna anger and frustrate these federal prosecutors.”
So there’s certain just, minutia-type, tricks of the trade, for lack of a better term, that you just need to know, and you need to be navigating in and out of these federal courts on a regular basis to be able to know these things.
If you’re facing federal charges and need an expert criminal defense lawyer, contact Combs Waterkotte today at (314) 900-HELP or reach out online for a free, confidential case review. We will fight for your rights and freedom.
