Ed. Note: On July 21, 2025, Roy Black passed away at the age of 80. Roy was a legend in the criminal defense world, and subscriber and occasional commenter at SJ. Roy Black’s work had a particularly significant on Mario Machado, who remembers him here.

For me, there’s one quote that always stuck out:

I’m going to do whatever I can to see justice is done in the courtroom. If the town burns down because of it, so be it.

That’s from when Roy Black defended Miami Police Officer Luis Alvarez, the 1982 case that had the city in perpetual fear because of the Miami Riot Syndrome. Having done my damn best to study Roy’s approach to everything, that line sticks out because it’s the complete opposite to what I see and read about today’s defense lawyers: the majority casually going along to get along, terrified of superseding indictments and pleading out cases in perpetuity, lest they upset anything about the status quo. Continue reading →

Before moving forth to the nuts and bolts, let’s clear the air. Mahmoud Khalil is not in this country on a visa. Rather, he is a legal permanent resident (aka LPR) of the United States. The government pretty much* concedes that he is an LPR in the Notice to Appear filed with the Immigration Court against Khalil. A Notice to Appear is the immigration court equivalent of an indictment, and it contains the charges of deportation to which Khalil must respond in Court.

No one is “revoking” his visa or green card. To be removed from the country, one of two things must happen: (i) Khalil stipulates to the order of deportation; or (ii) there is a final hearing in immigration court, and Khalil loses.** Continue reading →

It’s common knowledge that the government uses all kinds of rats to secure convictions. We don’t call them rats in court, however. They’re referred to as CIs, CS, un-indicted co-conspirators, cooperators, “individual number 1,” and the like. Many times, though, they’re referred to by their names. Indictments and 302s include their last names in all caps*, and with a cursory review of the docket, you can get an idea of what they pled to and what they may know about your guy.

The government uses all types of folks looking for an easier way out of the BOP’s spartan accommodations: from the wretched, luckless errand boy who drove someone to one deal, to the top dogs who’ve organized a transnational dope-slinging syndicate. Rationally, the government needs the kingpins, and those closest to them, when trying to collar other cartel leaders. Continue reading →

Actor Joe Gatt, of Game of Thrones and Star Trek Into Darkness fame, almost lost everything he worked for because of some unhinged prosecutor named Angela Brunson. Gatt worked his butt off to become relevant, and then that psycho allowed some fangirl to convince Brunson that Gatt did something illegal:

The reality is that LT created fantasy conversations between her and Gatt and lied to her friends that she was having a sexting affair with a famous actor. Amazingly, the LA police did not use the evidence on her phone or computer to press charges, but relied on photos of screenshots of the alleged texts and photographs of Gatt. Continue reading →

Senator Josh Hawley has a beef with Judge Kentanji Brown-Jackson’s prior experience when it comes to defendants convicted of child pornography, ranging from her time in law school to working as a federal appellate defender,* to her time as a District Judge and her work with the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

For starters, as far as I know, there has only been one bona fide criminal defense lawyer on SCOTUS, and that was the Honorable Thurgood Marshall.** The fact is that trench lawyers rarely make it to the appellate circuit level, let alone SCOTUS. Continue reading →

Ed. Note: Who doesn’t fight with loved ones at some point during the holidays? Fault Lines alumni Mario Machado and Chris Seaton seem to love arguing with each other, so they put a debate topic on Twitter, and with over sixty percent of the vote, SJ readers chose “Resolved: Die Hard is a Christmas Movie” as the SJ Holiday Debate topic. Chris will argue the affirmative, Mario the negative. Below is Mario’s argument.

Eight minutes into the Die Hard celluloid and inside a limo, John McClane asks his driver why he’s not playing “Christmas music.” McClane is on to something very early, if only by accident, because this movie isn’t about Christmas. This movie is about an overzealous NY cop, played by Bruce Willis, who managed to fool enough people to demand – and pay for – a series of potboilers that would make Baby Jesus hide his face and weep. Continue reading →

For decades, some defense lawyers have been screaming into the void about how the economic loss guidelines for federal sentencing are out of whack, arbitrary, and many times just plain draconian. I’m lucky enough to have been doing it for about 10 years, and whenever a sentencing hearing is around the corner, I scavenge for more ammo to convince Judges to look past the nonsense that’s in section 2B1.1.

Some of the best weapons, though, come not from the defense’s argument, but from Judges who have found these numbers to be the equivalent of black box science. It’s as if the defense is telling the sentencing Judge, “Your Honor, it’s not just your not-so-humble servant that says that, but some of your brethren have also said it!” Implied in that message is something like, “Your colleagues took the plunge and called BS on these things, and now this Court can too!” Continue reading →

Ed. Note: Another debate has broken out at SJ! Fault Lines alumni Mario Machado and Christopher Seaton are ready to slug it out to the following question: “Resolved: It is in the best interests of the American public to pursue a “national divorce.” Chris will take the affirmative while Mario argues the negative. Mario’s argument follows, and you can read Chris’ here.

The last time this Honorable nation proposed a divorce among states and took it seriously, it became the most sanguinary conflict this young country had ever seen. Ironically, when some people sought to form a permanent divide between “red” and “blue” states, the end result was a more resilient union that when fought brought together, it was able to repel all tyrannical threats from abroad. A stubborn railroad lawyer kept his oath to preserve and protect and defend the Union, despite all of his its paltry and envious foes. Continue reading →

Alcedis Ortiz had been accused of sexually assaulting* a 12-year-old girl, and he was scheduled to stand trial in Miami.  Ortiz is a Colombian national without legal permanent residence in the U.S., and without any other authorization to remain in the country, he was fair game for ICE.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office was in charge of his prosecution, and if a one-word verdict came back, it was also tasked with convincing a Judge to send Ortiz to a Florida prison for a very long time.  For ICE, Ortiz was a man with no legal status who was charged with a serious crime, and whose asylum application had been denied by an Immigration Judge at the Krome Processing Center (a.k.a. Miami’s Immigration jail/court, a one-stop shop).  He was facing criminal charges in Miami’s state court while simultaneously seeking asylum in an Immigration Court. Continue reading →

The news hit Miami and its Latino diaspora like a breath of fresh justice: Venezuelan President* Nicolas Maduro and other government officials have been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice. The charges range from narco-terrorism conspiracy to money laundering, and, in short, they’re accused of conspiring to ship tons of Bolivian marching powder to the U.S., where apparently the demand has always been high for that kind of stuff.  If they’re ever tried before a jury of their peers, chances are they will never get to eat a pabellon again.

There’s a $15 million bounty on Maduro’s head, and an additional $10 million for each of his confederates. The DEA was offering only $5 million for El Chapo, so apparently they really mean business, and perhaps they know a lot that we plebs don’t (e.g., Venezuelan Generals finally running out of cash for the gumars and they can also see the writing on the wall).** At minimum, when an indictment of this magnitude comes down, it means that at least a lot of people have been singing for a while. Continue reading →