Smart move to proceed pro se. I just finished a few years in the feds, paid my attorneys middle six figures total, and they did nothing. Only when I started writing my own civil motions on collateral attack (specifically 28 USC 2255 ) did I get any traction at all. If I had to do it all over, I'd proceed pro se.

Little tidbit: you are indeed entitled to counsel if you are arrested, while you are in criminal proceedings. But if you lose an appeal, and have to proceed with collateral attack, that is civil and you are NOT entitled to counsel. Many people sit in prison because they have only civil remedies left.

Yep, only two counts, though I thought it would be one. Level 22 I guess is the higher, with three less for timely admission of responsibility, CH Level I, low end is 30 months. That's what he got. Sounds like he has at least a sympathetic AUSA. Mine drowned puppies for fun.

Not sure about the Camp: lots of people at Elkton self-surrendered. His PSI will mention every last action he "admitted" and many he didn't, which will all affect his custody with the BOP as relevant conduct.

I bet he goes to a Low. He's not on the BOP site yet.

I suppose it's possible, but one's morals get strained when the choice is 30 months versus 35 years. Counts are cumulative in feds, so go down the table twenty levels and tell me about "facing punishment for your actions." Shouldn't that punishment be just and fair?

I know, I apologize. But for the past few weeks, /. on Chrome has been having a weird bug...can't paste after I type any text. I can remember (u, ok well I try) a shortened URL.

Anyone else seeing this weird paste thing here on Chrome? 10.6.4, Chrome 7.0.517.44 I know, I know, use Firefox.

Mea culpa.

Hmm, good point. Ok...

According to 18 USC 3553 the judge MUST consider the issue of disparate punishment. So the judge does. And does what he/she wants anyway.

It's a HUGE business, the prison industry, and it needs a steady flow of bodies, which it easily gets.

Sorry, link is http://goo.gl/CoIcB

Yeah. I saw guys in the feds who were doing 20 years because someone else committed a crime and they knew about it. I know a limo driver now at Elkton who picked up a fare at JFK, the DEA pulled them over and found the fare's bags stuffed with cocaine and meth. The driver knew nothing about it, denied all knowledge, and went to trial with a public defender. He got 37 years and lost his appeal, and does not have the money for collateral attack. Did you know that after one appeal, you must now use civil remedies, like 28USC 2241 and 2255, and you are NOT entitled to counsel for them?

I did five years for what most would call, at best, a silly prank that hurt no one and caused neither property or financial loss.

He allegedly "admitted" to what looks like ten counts or more, but since his special assessement was $200, he was only convicted of a single felony count. So, then, why ever would he have admitted anything else? That would be allocution, relevant conduct and further admitted behavior. When I plead out in February 2007, I admitted guilt on one count and all others were dismissed. I denied them (they were indeed false) and no one admits other behavior and gets done for one count.

According to the sentencing table, assuming this is his first offense, his offense was Level 22. He got a standard three-point reduction for admission of guilt and the judge gave him the low end of Level 19. He will do 87.5% of it, (no parole in feds) a little more than 26 months. He'll go to halfway house in 23.

But he will not go to a Camp. His relevant conduct will affect his custody, and he will probably go to a Low (basically a Medium with cubicles instead of cells), perhaps even FCI Elkton in Ohio where I was. Not fun.

My suspicion is whether he really admitted all those other counts, or this is journalistic excess.

A modulator? Ah HAH!

http://goo.gl/dNdy

200lb bloodhound + roadkill lunch + 4 pounds of stolen Halloween candy = copious, fragrant gas heat.

You get used to it.

We are the number one per capita nation for incarceration, but more interestingly, we also have the largest number of prison inmates.

We have 751 people in jail or prison per 100,000 population. UK? 151 per 100k. Germany 88. Japan 63. We throw people behind bars for offenses that would even amount to an arrest in most countries. I met people doing 20 years for a bag of crack the size of a sugar packet. I saw guys doing five for a phone call. I saw guys doing life because they were "co-conspirators" to something that happened 1,000 miles away without their knowledge.

God Bless America.

Come on, the law is so weird, it has to be real. Fiction has to make sense.

An example: ever hear of Relevant Conduct? I've talked about this before. Here's the scenario: you get caught with a small bag of weed. You get arrested. While being booked some Fed sees you and says "hey! Aren't you the guy who mowed down all those nuns and orphans with an AK at McDonald's last week?" You deny it, but he's sure and you are charged with mass murder. You go to trial, and win. You are found not guilty after two minutes of deliberation. There was no evidence and the witness said it wasn't you.

But since the McDonald's was in another state, the case is federal, and you get six months for the weed. Think you'll do it in some easy Club Fed? No way, you have mass murder as relevant conduct. I am not kidding: your custody can be affected by dismissed or acquitted charges. You have been found not guilty, but it's on your Pre-Sentence Investigation and the Bureau of Prisons will send you to a much tougher place: after all, you're a murderer! So, you go to a USP, and are dead in a week.

As I've posted, I recently did five years in the feds, and rather than be close to my home in a Camp, I was sent to a disciplinary FCI as far away as they could send me, due to charges which were dismissed. The xBox thing does not surprise me in the least...there is so much bad law on the books, which is one reason we have so many people in jail.