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Dealing with any criminal charge can be a daunting task. This is especially true when facing Federal criminal charges because most people feel more frightened and intimidated when the criminal charges are brought in the Federal courts as opposed to the State courts.  If you are facing Federal charges you may wonder why you are not in State court. Or, in the worst-case scenario, you may wonder why you are being prosecuted in both courts. There are many reasons for this decision, and these are discussed below.

Being Prosecuted in Both State and Federal Court

To begin with, all courts handling criminal cases are in either the Federal or the State court system, but the criminal cases they are empowered to hear, also called their “jurisdiction” differs significantly. Federal court judges have the power to preside over matters involving the U.S. Constitution and over all Federal Laws, which are those passed by the U.S. Congress. State court judges are empowered to preside over cases involving the State Constitution, and over all State laws, meaning those passed by a State or Municipal governing body. State courts can therefore preside over traffic tickets and state misdemeanor and felony cases. The court of primary jurisdiction in the Federal system is called the “district court” whereas the court of primary jurisdiction in the State system is the circuit court.  In the State system, the district court is a lower court, below the circuit court, and is the place all state criminal charges begin.  State felonies must be handled in the circuit court however.

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The Barone Defense Firm is pleased to announce that Patrick Barone, the Firm’s founding member, has been admitted to practice before the Federal District Court for the Western District of Michigan. Mr. Barone has been admitted to practice before the Federal District Court for the Eastern District since 1993.

Mr. Barone was admitted to the State Bar of Michigan in 1991. He was admitted to the State Bar of Illinois in 1993.  However, being admitted to the state bar in one or more states does not authorize a lawyer to practice before any Federal Court.  This is because the rules applicable to Federal Courts differ from State Courts in several ways.  First, simply being admitted to a state bar is necessary but insufficient. Admission before a specific Federal Court requires that the attorney seeking admission prepare a petition to be filed with the Federal Court.  This petition must be supported by a sponsoring attorney who vouches for the attorney seeking admission.  The sponsoring attorney must already be a member of Federal Court where the petitioning lawyer is seeking admission.

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Federal Criminal Defense Team

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Pornography has never been easier to access. Anyone with a smart phone can readily obtain all kinds of pornography. While porn sites are often clearly named, such as Pornhub, other platforms containing pornographic images are less obvious and include many kinds of social media, such as such common apps like Tumblr and Instagram, various chat groups like Kik, and video sharing sites like BitTorrent.  Regardless of the means used to access pornography one thing remains constant. No matter how careful a person in when trying to cover up their digital footprint, chances are a good forensic analyst will be able to uncover that which is meant to stay private.

Child pornography is always illegal to receive, possess, distribute, or manufacture.  Many people believe that if they delete images on their phone or computer, these images are really deleted. However, simply hitting delete rarely actually destroys the evidence. If this were true, then nearly all child pornography cases would be based on destroyed evidence.  One place such deleted images may reside is in a computer’s cache or temporary memory.

What is a cache?

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Attorney and Practice Magazine recently invited Patrick Barone “membership” as one of Michigan’s Top 10 Attorneys. The bar to entry?  Payment of either $295 for 2020, $295 for 2021 or $590 for both years. Subsequent to payment, Mr. Barone would have available to him a host of impressive materials, from a nice looking website badge to a all plaque to be proudly displayed on the office wall.

Lawyer Ratings Have Become Big Business

In the last decade lawyer ratings have become big business. Most of them consist of a few lawyers getting together and deciding they can get rich by offering paid-for credentials to other lawyers. Several times per month at the criminal defense lawyers at the Barone Defense Firm receive solicitations to be listed on this “top 10 list,” or that “nation’s best list,” usually with the only bar to entry a small payment of usually about $300-$500.

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Sex crime allegations in Michigan are taken very seriously by law enforcement. Due to the specialized nature of these cases many police departments have officers and detectives with in depth training specific to the investigation of sex crime cases. The same is true for lawyers who work with the police departs to prosecute sex crime cases. In fact, many of the larger counties have specific teams of prosecutors who exclusively handle sex crimes cases. For example, the Wayne County Prosecutor has the Sexual Assault Team, and the Oakland County Prosecutor has the Special Victim Section (SVS).

On the west side of Michigan, Kent County does not have a specially named division in the prosecutor’s office, but that office does designate a few attorneys within the office to handle most of the sex crimes cases in the county.

To combat these highly specialized sex crime teams at the various prosecuting attorney’s offices throughout the State of Michigan, the Barone Defense Firm has assembled a team of sex crimes lawyers to go head to head with the prosecutors.

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Michigan doctors are under heightened risk of prosecution for prescription fraud.  This is because Michigan, and specifically the Eastern District of Michigan, has been identified as one of the top 12 places in the Country for opioid fraud and abuse. For this reason alone it’s important for Michigan doctors to be aware of how prescription fraud cases are identified and prosecuted.

Broadly speaking, prescription fraud is committed when someone fraudulently obtains prescription drugs. The fraud can be committed in various ways. For example, there have been cases in which doctors wrote fake prescriptions for pain killers and gave the scripts to a “runner.” The runner then takes the scripts to a knowing or unknowing pharmacy for the prescription to be filled. In these cases, the drugs are typically re-sold on the street at a very high markup. The funds are then distributed back up the chain.

Another example comes from a recent prescription fraud case in Michigan. In this case, two men worked together. One would impersonate a doctor and call a prescription into a pharmacy. The two men then drove to the pharmacy and the other would go in and try to obtain the prescription drugs.

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If you have a criminal conviction and you’re wondering what steps you need to take to enter Canada, then you’re not alone. Our Clients often wonder whether they should you bring a passport, a driver’s license or their social security cards?  These common questions arise because the immigration process is confusing, and learning the intricacies of the system, and how to navigate it, is a daunting task.

Thankfully, once you sift through the information, it is not as complicated as it seems. There are a few important things to know, though, if you are considering making a trip to Canada. And to answer the question, yes, you should bring your passport and driver license, but you can leave your social security card at home.

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If you have been charged with and convicted of a felony in Michigan, then you are probably wondering if you will go to jail, and for how long. One of the most important factors are the Michigan Sentencing Guidelines. All parties involved with your case will utilize the sentencing guidelines in determining an appropriate sentence for you. Because of this, it is important for you to know and understand the sentencing guidelines.

If you have been charged with a federal crime, then see our companion article: What Are the Federal Sentencing Guidelines? For information on jail time on DUI cases see this article: DUI Jail Penalties.

The History of the Michigan Sentencing Guidelines

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The Payroll Protection Program was included in the CARES Act to provide small businesses with funds to pay employees when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Like almost any government assistance program in history, there have been instances of fraud related to PPP loans. The Department of Justice and Office of The United States Attorneys have been on the lookout for businesses and people who fraudulently obtained PPP funds. If you have been contacted by law enforcement about your PPP funds, do not make any statements to law enforcement and call an experienced Federal Fraud Lawyer at the Barone Defense Firm immediately.

What are the qualifications to be eligible for the PPP?

The first requirement to be eligible for the PPP is that the business must be a small business as defined by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Your business must not have more than 500 employees or must meet the size standards set by the SBA. The SBA sets size standards in terms of revenue dollars and number of employees. For example, if you own a brewery, you’re considered a small business by the SBA if you have 1,250 employees or less

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In 2013, owners and employees of Kentwood Pharmacy were indicted on federal conspiracy charges. The indictment alleged that Kentwood sold prescription drugs to customers, recaptured unused drugs, then re-sold the drugs to others. For obvious reasons, the re-sale of prescription drugs is illegal under federal law. Because this case involved federal law, this case was handled by the United States Attorney’s Office and filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan. This court is tough on these cases, and this showed in the way this case was handled. The team of federal criminal defense lawyers at the Barone Defense Firm are very familiar with this court and know firsthand how difficult and specialized these cases are to properly defend.

For example, one of the laws used to charge Kentwood Pharmacy in this case was set out under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). This law says that a drug is misbranded if its label is false or misleading in any way (21 U.S.C. §§ 301). Each prescription bottle should have a label that lists, among other things, its lot number. This lot number is a way to trace the manufacturing history of the drug. That way, if there are any issues with the drug, the lot number on the label can be used to investigate how the issue occurred. If a drug is mislabeled, then it would make it difficult or impossible to understand the manufacturing history and cause of the problem of the drug.

In this case, Kentwood had adult foster care homes and nursing homes as customers. Kentwood sold prescription drugs to these customers. Kentwood then directed employees pick up previously dispensed, unused drugs from these customers. Kentwood would then repackage these drugs and resell them, as if new. This resulted in drugs going into containers that had lot numbers and expiration dates that did not match. Sometimes, the containers that the old drugs were placed in contained no lot numbers. This practice also resulted in Medicare and Medicaid being billed more than once for the same drug.

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