Drug Crimes

Sherman Drug Crimes Defense Lawyer

Federal prosecutors normally bring drug charges as “conspiracy charges,” because they don’t have to prove an actual drug deal, just a “conspiracy.” A conspiracy requires them to prove an agreement to distribute drugs and an act in further of the unlawful agreement by one of the conspirators. To bring a conspiracy case to the Eastern District of Texas, some connection to the Eastern District (but not a whole lot) is required. The agreement be made in, or an "overt act" take place in or through the Eastern District. This is why you need to call a Board Certified lawyer like Micah Belden to defend your case.

Federal conspiracy charges are very serious for many reasons, but the statutory mandatory minimum sentence make them more serious. In a conspiracy, you can be held responsible not only for the drugs you took part in, but for the drugs that were also “reasonably foreseeable” to you. Five kilograms of cocaine, two hundred and eighty grams of crack, 500 grams of methamphetamine, 1000 kilograms of marijuana, etc. get you ten years to life in federal court. A tenth of those amounts gets you five years to forty in federal court. The stakes are very high, so you must hire a lawyer immediately before talking to anyone about your case.

In drug conspiracy prosecutions, the Federal prosecutors will make deals with codefendants to testify against you, so you must hire an attorney who can call them on it. The federal sentencing guidelines allows defendants who cooperate against a person to get a large sentence reduction for doing so. On the other hand, if you are dead in the water but have the ability to cooperate against others, it may be in your interest to cooperate to get one of the few four-leaf-clovers in the sentencing guidelines working in your favor. Other guidelines like safety valve can benefit you greatly, but you must hire a lawyer who can navigate you through the minefield with precision.

Call Micah S. Belden now at 903-744-4252