New Jersey Sentencing Lawyer

While all federal criminal cases contain elements of complexity, it is in the sentencing phase of the case where federal cases require an attorney who fully understands the complexity and ambiguity presented by the interaction of the federal sentencing guidelines and case law.

Under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, including Blakely v. Washington and United States v. Booker, the federal sentencing guidelines are no longer treated as mandatory. Because they are now advisory, the judge needs to take them into consideration, but the guidelines do not dictate the sentence. The cases of Rita, Gall, Kimbrough, and Spears solidified the discretion that a sentencing judge has to deviate from the advisory guideline range. More than ever, the terms of a sentence may be influenced by well-crafted arguments of counsel. You want an attorney experienced in handling the complex arguments necessary to obtain the best possible sentencing result in light of this new treatment of the federal sentencing guidelines.