Our client from Windham, Maine pleaded guilty in the United State District Court in Portland to conspiring to tamper with Clean Air Act monitoring devices and Obstruction of Justice. At sentencing he faced five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.
The client was represented by ZLF Founder Tim Zerillo. After considerable sentencing argument, we were able to succeed in getting our client straight probation only, with no time in custody to serve, along with a $40,000 fine.
In Federal Court, straight probation is very unusual. Generally, when you are sentenced in Federal Court, you are going to prison. Through our written advocacy in the forms of our sentencing memorandum, and our oral argument at the sentencing hearing, we were able to convince the Court to give our client a non-guideline sentence, including a sentence of no time in custody for our client. The Government argued for a Federal Sentencing Guidelines sentence and a fine payment of double guideline range.
Tim Zerillo is teaches criminal defense lawyers about sentencing defense work, with seminars to criminal defense lawyers last year in Idaho, and upcoming seminars in Virginia and Aspen, Colorado. Very often, criminal defense lawyers give short shrift to sentencing, but they shouldn't. Whether you are in State or Federal Court, the sentencing phase is critical and judge's can be persuaded to see the client's point of view in many instances.
Congrats to our client.
