Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

T.I. entered a guilty plea today in the United States District Court to possessing machine guns and to the possession of firearms by a convicted felon. In an unprecedented plea deal, T.I.'s Atlanta criminal defense attorneys were able to negotiate a sentence of only one year in prison.

The binding plea agreement, which was accepted by District Court Judge Charles Pannell, allows T.I.'s sentencing to be deferred for up to a year. During this time, he will still be subject to home confinement although he will also be required to perform 1000 hours of community service for non-profit youth organizations.

If T.I. violates any of the conditions of his release or fails to perform all of the community service, he will then be subject to a sentence of up to 97 months in prison.

After the year in prison, he will be placed on supervised release for a period of three years, perform another 500 hours of community service, and pay a fine in the amount of $100,000.

Attached to the plea agreement were letters from the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the NAACP, and the Catch Me Before I Fall Initiative expressing their interest in having T.I. serve as a spokesman for their campaigns against youth violence.

T.I. armed himself with with an arsenal of highly regarded Atlanta criminal defense attorneys who undoubtedly entered this case believing that he would have to go to trial in order to avoid years in prison.

Had T.I. gone to trial, he would have been facing upwards of 10 years in prison. It is unclear why the U.S. Attorney's Office was willing to agree to such a lenient sentence in this case since it has fought so vigorously over the past few years for much harsher punishment for lesser known defendants with similar charges.

What remains to be seen is whether this case will be an anomaly or whether it will encourage the government and defense lawyers to be more flexible in its prosecution of firearms offenses like this one where human lives were not put in danger. If not, the only message that the T.I. case may be sending is that only he gets a second chance.

The public radio affiliate in Atlanta interviewed Pate & Brody partner Page Pate about the deal. Page agrees with most criminal lawyers in Atlanta - the deal is very unusual and was only possible because of TI's celebrity.

Looks like T.I. won't have to stay at home this Easter. This week, a federal magistrate judge in Atlanta agreed to modify T.I.'s bond to allow him to attend Easter Sunday services at the Georgia Dome. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has the story on T.I.'s bond modification.

It's not unusual for a defendant to get court permission to leave his home or travel outside the district while the case is still pending. In the Northern District of Georgia, and most other federal judicial districts, bonds usually have conditions that restrict a defendant's travel to the district where the case is pending. (Some defendants are detained without bond at all. In fact, in most major drug and firearm cases in federal court in Atlanta defendants are held in pretrial custody until the case is resolved.)

No word yet on a trial date for T.I. because the case has not yet been "certified ready for trial" by the magistrate judge. There is still a motion to suppress evidence pending that will have to be heard and ruled on before the case can proceed. T.I.'s Atlanta criminal defense lawyers have challenged the search of T.I.'s vehicle and residence and are trying to keep the guns that were found out of the case. If they are successful, it probably won't end the case because there are still cooperating witnesses who are expected to testify that T.I. was involved in unlawful gun purchases. But the suppression of the guns will make the case a whole lot more difficult for the government to prove.

I expect the hearing on the lawyers' motion will take place soon. After the hearing, the attorneys will probably file another legal brief with their arguments to suppress the evidence. The magistrate judge will then review their arguments and make a recommendation to the district court that the motion should be granted or denied. After the district court makes the final determination, the case can be set down for trial.

Although there is a speedy trial act in federal court, it usually doesn't mean much. Cases are supposed to be tried within 70 days after arraignment, but any pending motion will toll the time and keep the clock running. That's why cases often take a year or longer to get to trial in federal court, at least in Atlanta.

I doubt this case will last more than a year, but I don't expect the case to be resolved until late summer at the earliest. With or without the guns, it should be an interesting trial.

Georgia State Rep.Ron Sailor, Jr. pleaded guilty this week to federal money laundering charges in Atlanta. All the local news media covered the story. (The picture on the left is Sailor and his Atlanta criminal defense lawyer Bruce Maloy.) Bill Rankin provides a good summary of the investigation and the plea in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Now we know why Sailor has missed so many votes in the Georgia General Assembly - the government told him to. Federal prosecutors apparently instructed Sailor not to vote during the time he was cooperating with the government to avoid any appearance that the feds (a Republican controlled Justice Department) were telling Sailor how to vote. I am not sure how his constituents feel about that, or how silencing a reliable Democratic vote may have affected pending legislation. Because Sailor had not entered a guilty plea until this week, he would not have been prevented from holding his seat and voting on legislation. Interesting issue, but unlikely to get any attention. Another interesting issue is why Sailor was approached by this undercover agent. What led them to Sailor? Was it another cooperating witness? Or, did they just chose him at random?

U.S. Attorney David Nahmias told reporters that Sailor has been cooperating with law enforcement in an ongoing investigation into public corruption in Georgia. Apparently, he's been cooperating for several months while his arrest was kept under seal. Nahmias described Sailor's cooperation as "useful." Anyone who follows Georgia politics would not be surprised if there are additional legislators under investigation for violating various federal laws. The dome may be gold, but it's certainly not pure.

As with most plea agreements in federal court, Sailor is not guaranteed any specific sentence. The amount of time he will have to spend in federal custody will be determined by the judge after a Presentence Investigation Report is prepared by the U.S. Probation Office. The judge will consider the federal sentencing guidelines, but ultimately make his decision based on the sentencing factors set forth in the federal criminal code (18 U.S.C. 3553).

I am sure Sailor and his defense attorneys are hoping that the government will reward him for his cooperation by filing a "5K" motion before he is sentenced. "5K" refers to a section in the federal sentencing guidelines that rewards a defendant with a possible reduction in his sentence for providing "substantial assistance" to the government. Whether the defendant has provided "substantial assistance" is always up to the government. If a "5K" motion is filed, the judge can disregard any mandatory minimums and impose a reasonable sentence. That usually means the defendant will get less time. Although the government attorney usually makes a recommendation, the amount of the reduction is ultimately up to the judge.

Now that Sailor's plea is public, we should soon see if his cooperation results in any arrests. I expect the feds will likely wait until after the legislative session if they intend to charge any other state representative. But after March, who knows...

A mortgage fraud case pending in Athens Georgia for over a year may be close to indictment. The case involves a local real estate developer who allegedly engaged in a scheme to over-inflate the value of a subdivision he had purchased.

We represent an Athens attorney who was initially arrested and charged with fraud in this case. The Athens Banner Herald has the story. I was interviewed and had this comment:

"The delay in bringing an indictment is not unusual," said Atlanta attorney Page Pate, who represents one man accused in the Milford Hills case, Athens real estate attorney C. Michael Rose.

"I have been involved in several mortgage fraud investigations at both the state and federal level and I have learned that it takes a lot of time to properly review the closing documents and related paperwork," Pate said.

Last year, for example, a U.S. District Court jury convicted 10 people involved in a $41 million mortgage scheme that encompassed more than 50 homes and 250 condominiums in eight Atlanta-area complexes - several years after the plot was uncovered.

Several others pleaded guilty to the fraud conspiracy before trial.

Pate is pleased that prosecutors didn't seek quick indictments because he wants a thorough investigation he believes will exonerate his client.

"Although we would like to get this matter cleared up sooner rather than later, it's more important to be patient and let the investigators do their job," Pate said. "If they have adequate time to review this case, I am confident that they will reach the same conclusion as I have - Mike Rose did nothing illegal."

I don't know when the case will be indicted. I only hope that the Attorney General's Office will not charge our client. Mike only closed the loans that were brought to him. He did not know that a lot of the paperwork was fraudulent. Like so many other people in Athens, Mike was deceived by the developer. He was not a part of the scheme, only a victim of it.

There have been a lot of mortgage fraud cases in Georgia in the last few years. We have been involved in many of them. I posted about one of our most recent mortgage fraud cases earlier this year. We have represented lawyers, mortgage brokers, investors, appraisers and the people who end up buying these properties.

Fortunately, we have been able to keep many of our clients from being charged with a crime. We hope we can do the same for Mike.

A Cobb County teacher was found "not guilty" of aggravated child molestation earlier this week after a jury trial. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has the full story.

Apparently, the teacher (Gregory A. Leontovich) was charged because one of his students told authorities that he sodomized her in a restroom at the school where he worked.

According to the teacher's defense attorney, however, the state's case fell apart once the jury realized that the girl's story was impossible - she could not have been alone with him in the restroom because the students are not allowed to go to the restroom without a "buddy."

Amazingly, the teacher had not even been interviewed by the police before they decided to arrest him. It also looks like neither the police nor the District Attorney's Office tried to determine whether the girl's story was credible before Leontovich was arrested, indicted and humiliated. They did not even interview the other teachers at the school until 10 weeks after the alleged incident.

Leontovich went through two years of humiliation, and thousands of dollars in legal fees for his top-notch criminal defense lawyer. He had to resign from his job, and is having difficulty finding work.

Leontovich had been a teacher since 1992. He loved the work, and was respected and admired by his students and the other teachers. In fact, many of them came to court to support him before and during this difficult trial. (Seventy of them showed up at the bond hearing.) But now, even though he was acquitted at trial, he will always have an arrest record and will carry the "scarlet letter" of an aggravated child molestation charge for the rest of his life.

The AJC's Mike King wrote an excellent editorial about the devastating effects of a false child molestation charge, and how a "not guilty" verdict won't repair the damage done by this allegation.

Our firm has had our fair share of false child molestation cases. In several of these cases, we were able to get the charges dismissed prior to an indictment or trial. In fact, we recently helped a client avoid an indictment for molestation in Cobb County, where Leontovich was charged. Our client, like Leontovich, had been charged and arrested without an adequate investigation. As in so many of these cases, the police just accepted the story and then tried to make all the other facts fit their version of what happened. Fortunately, we were hired before the indictment and had time to develop a strong defense. We convinced the district attorney's office to dismiss the case. We are currently trying to help this client get his arrest record expunged. But the damage done to him and his family as a result of the arrest and initial jail time will take many years to heal, if it ever does.

A couple of years ago, I tried an aggravated child molestation case where the witness had completely made up a story that she was sodomized by our client at knife point. The story was incredible, but there was no one else present to disprove it. It was just our client and the complaining witness, a typical "he said, she said" problem. The district attorney refused to consider our client's innocence, so we went to trial. We won and our client was acquitted of all 6 counts charged against him. But the case was very difficult and expensive, and unnecessary.

There would be far fewer false child molestation allegations if the police did a better job of screening these cases before indictment. A thorough investigation is not too much to ask when you consider how the sentences for these offenses are going through the roof. (Aggravated child molestation now carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years to serve in prison, no parole or probation).

Congratulations to Mr. Leontovich and his Atlanta defense lawyer Barry Hazen for their win in Cobb County. It's a shame he had to go through it, but it does remind us of the importance of a good defense and an impartial jury. I only hope Mr. Leontovich is able to get his life back on track after enduring this unnecessary persecution.

It's an unusual move, but a great idea. Athens Georgia criminal defense attorney Ed Tolley is trying to get the judge to allow him to question grand jurors before they consider a murder indictment against his client. The Athens Banner Herald has the story. The case is pending in Oconee County, part of the same judicial circuit as Athens.

According to the Athens article, the defense lawyer wants to determine the effect of pretrial publicity on the grand jurors before they decide whether to indict his client for murder. The lawyer also wants the judge to put a "gag order" on the parties to prevent any additional publicity before the case goes to trial.

Generally, a judge won't consider the effect of pretrial publicity until the jury is being selected right before the case is tried. If it appears that a lot of the potential jurors have heard about the case and made up their minds, then the judge may consider a change in venue or other remedy. The judge usually doesn't care if the potential juror has heard about the case, only if the juror can still be "impartial" despite what he has seen or heard.

Of course, most judges are reluctant to change venue and start over at that point. That usually means pretrial publicity won't help you get a criminal trial moved to another county. Only the really big "high-profile" criminal cases get moved before trial. A trial doesn't get moved to another court just because the newspaper runs a couple of articles, or the local tv news gives the case 30 seconds of coverage. It takes a whole lot more.

The hearing is set for Tuesday, March 18. If the judge lets the defense attorney question the grand jurors, it may set a precedent in Georgia for screening grand jurors prior to indictment. That would be a big change from the "rubber stamp" the grand jury usually gives prosecutors. I bet many other lawyers would like to use this approach for other cases that get covered in the news before trial. I know I certainly would.

"Metro Atlanta may get a little bloodier. Call it a sign of success."

So begins a recent article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about "progress" in the so-called war on drugs.

Federal drug agents are claiming that they have "decreased the quality and raised the price of drugs on the street." As a result, they are expecting more violence between drug dealers, and more crimes committed against average citizens because the drug users need to steal more money to buy drugs at the inflated price.

The author of the article, Steve Visser, has a good understanding of how drugs get to Atlanta, and why the traffic has increased so dramatically over the past few years.

Metro Atlanta became an outpost of organized crime for reasons of geography, logistics and immigration. It also has a strong and diverse market for drugs — powder cocaine for the suburbs, crack cocaine for the city, crystal meth for the exurbs and ecstasy for Midtown raves — for the cartels to fill, Killorin said.

Moreover, the region is a transportation hub — by rail, air and interstate highways and even by sea, by way of Savannah — to make it a natural distribution point, whether to New Jersey or Chicago.

"We've got the busiest airport. We've got three major interstates passing through. We're just accessible," said Atlanta Police Lt. Robert Browning, deputy director of HIDTA. "It is not that the drugs are coming to Atlanta and stopping. This is the transportation route for the whole East Coast."

The reason is simple logistics.

Cocaine is still manufactured in South America, but instead of being shipped directly to the U.S. by plane or ship — as was the case in the Miami Vice heyday — the Colombia cartels are now selling it to Mexican cartels.

Those organizations then ship it, along with marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin, to Atlanta, a major metro area with a large Hispanic population in which the traffickers can hide.

They often hide shipments in cargoes of legitimate goods that thousands of trucks ferry across the border each day. Drug shipments even have been hidden with truckloads of produce bound for the state Farmer's Market in Forest Park, according to the 2007 HIDTA annual report.

The cartels' operatives in metro Atlanta repackage the drugs for distribution in the region or shipment elsewhere, Benson said. Then, millions in dollars are transported back to Atlanta, where the cash is packed and ship to Mexico.

The trafficking organizations rent houses in affluent neighborhoods in Cobb and Gwinnett counties that shield them from surveillance because they're on large, private lots, the HIDTA report noted.

Of course, an increase in drug traffic and drug arrests keeps criminal defense attorneys busy as well. Atlanta defense lawyers have seen a lot of federal drug cases in the past few years. In fact, our law firm has been involved in a few federal drug trials where the quantity of drugs seized exceeded several hundred kilos. In a case I tried two years ago, federal drug agents had also seized 4 million dollars in cash as a result of a drug operation in Atlanta and Marietta, Georgia.

We have posted on several of these cases before - 88 people indicted for drug conspiracy in Atlanta; and my recent drug trafficking case in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

I don't see how an increase in violence is a good thing, or a sign of the demise of drugs being imported into the U.S. I am sure the federal government could be a lot more effective if they spent just a fraction of that money on treatment and reducing the demand for drugs. But I don't expect that to happen anytime soon. There is just too much money and bureaucracy dedicated to this un-ending, and un-winnable, war on drugs.

Former District Attorney Tim Madison was sentenced last week to 6 years in a Georgia prison for his role in a scheme to steal money from Banks County. Madison pleaded guilty to a number of counts, but they all basically involve the same crime - taking money from county funds that he was not authorized to take.

He convinced Banks County to pay a salary to an assistant district attorney who was already being paid by state funds. Madison and the attorney then split up the extra salary. Madison also admitted falsifying time cards for his wife who was on his payroll at the time. The other charges - false statements and violating his oath of office - were part of the scheme to cover the fraud.

The Athens Banner Herald did an excellent job of covering this case from start to finish.

Madison got 6 years to serve, but the total sentence is 12 years - the first six will be served in prison, the remainder on probation. In reality, Madison will most likely only serve 2 or 3 years before being paroled, considering his age and the improbability of recidivism. He also has to pay $40,000 in restitution. The sentence imposed by the judge sets forth the prison term and the conditions of his probation.

I'm not sure where Madison will actually serve his time. Other Georgia officials convicted in public corruption cases have often been moved to out-of-state federal facilities, especially if they are former law enforcement officers. If he went to a Georgia prison, he may run into one of the people he prosecuted. Not a good thing for the former "tough on crime" D.A.

The Georgia Attorney General's Office asked the judge to impose an 8 year sentence. Madison's defense lawyers asked for a long term of straight probation. No doubt that Madison had two of Georgia's best criminal defense lawyers representing him, but it appeared that the judge had already made up his mind. Perhaps he was influenced by the tough stance Madison used to take on plea deals and sentences for theft cases. He probably would have given himself 10 years to serve.

Madison had served as District Attorney in that circuit for over 25 years. On Saturday, he will begin serving his sentence in the Banks County jail. It's a big change. Some local attorneys thought the sentence was too harsh, but defense lawyers and prosecutors that know Madison consider the sentence an appropriate one. Most criminal defense attorneys that have gone up against Madison agreed with Georgia's Attorney General - "Madison's sentence was not only consistent with the harm that Madison wreaked on the Piedmont Circuit, but was also consistent with sentences that Madison himself had sought from accused or convicted thieves in similar cases."

The case is not over. Charges still remain pending against Madison's wife and the assistant district attorney who agreed to the scheme to divert part of his county salary. Their trial date should be set by March 25.

It's going to be a long, tough road for Tim Madison. But it's hard to feel sorry for him. I never personally tried a case with him, but other defense lawyers tell me he got what he deserved. I doubt he would have shown any mercy if he had been the D.A. prosecuting someone for theft of public funds.

This week, a committee of the Georgia legislature approved an award of $1.2 million for a man who served almost 22 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has the full story.

$1.2 million works out to about $54,000 per year. It sounds good, but I would rather have the 22 years back. Think about what it would be like to lose some of the best years of your life locked up for something you didn't do. And it's not just the time and lost wages. Think of the family and friends who must have abandoned him. Think about the lost opportunities, and the normal everyday things we take for granted. Doing time is never easy. But I am sure it's almost intolerable when you know you are innocent.

Of course, there is no guarantee the Pete will see the money anytime soon. First, the bill has to get to the floor of the House, and then it must be approved by the Georgia Senate. Finally, the Governor must sign it. It may not happen this year, but I am sure Pete knows more about patience than most of us.

This is another win for the dedicated defense lawyers and support staff at the Georgia Innocence Project. They have done a tremendous job of uncovering wrongful convictions through the use of DNA evidence. I am proud to be one of the organization's Founding Members. I posted another one of their wins late last year. They have obviously been very busy.

Congratulations to the Innocence Project and Pete Williams.