As it is right now, Adrian is still in county and has been since July. He was picked up on a fed. indictment by ATF and is being held on a marshall no bond hold. He is facing 3 charges - unlawful poss. of a firearm by a felon, use of a firearm (which NEVER happened) and poss. of xxgs. of a controlled substance. Now, here's the thing, he has a very lengthy record for driving (no lic., restricted, eluding......) and was on prob. for the drugs in the past, he has run in the past from being sent. to state, on his record he has gone to court for alot of the same things but has never been charged with the same thing twice (he has always plead to something else) Currently, with the fed stuff, his STARTING OFFENSE LEVEL is a 4, what does this mean?? I have been trying to find out what he is going to be looking at as far as time, well, I guess I should be saying 'we' instead of 'he', because our new 3 1/2 week old son and I are going through all of this with him. I really have read alot of information but really none of it means anything to me. I just really need some help and/or advice as to where I should go for info., is there anything that he/we can do to get any of his time reduced, what kind of fed. prison is he most likely going to go to (low, med.??), any information that anyone has would be so much appreciated! I just really feel lost anymore and when he asks me questions, I just really can't answer them and I feel really frustrated. ARUGH!!!!!!

If he is a level 4 in the federal sentencing guidelines I beleive that is 0-6 months. So depending on the nature of his charges and if he has ever violated probation or parole before there maybe a good chance that he would not even serve time. But if he has a record already they may lock him up.

I do know that accepting responsiblity can get a 3 point reduction in the guidelines. that would make him a level 1 which would definatly be better than a level 4.

Fed-Ex should come along soon and give you much better answers and help. I am still pretty new to this too.

Stick with it, you and him will make it through this!

Browse through some old posts for good info.

Hi A's and others,

I looked and found this link that will show you the table for Federal Guidelines - http://www.ussc.gov/2000guid/SENTNTAB.pdf

This is a PDF file so you'll need Adobe Acrobat to read it... it's free on the web at Adobe.com if you don't have it.

The whole Guideline index with links is available at http://www.ussc.gov/2000guid/tabcon00_2.htm.

In your case, A'sgirl, look at the level 4 catagory. A level 4 is 0-6 months provided that he's got a criminal history below category below III. At IV it goes to 2-8 months.

Below is a copy from the Criminal History section of the Guidelines to help you determine what you are looking at:

§4A1.1. Criminal History Category

The total points from items (a) through (f) determine the criminal history category in the Sentencing Table in Chapter Five, Part A.

(a) Add 3 points for each prior sentence of imprisonment exceeding one year and one month.

(b) Add 2 points for each prior sentence of imprisonment of at least sixty days not counted in (a).

(c) Add 1 point for each prior sentence not counted in (a) or (b), up to a total of 4 points for this item.

(d) Add 2 points if the defendant committed the instant offense while under any criminal justice sentence, including probation, parole, supervised release, imprisonment, work release, or escape status.

(e) Add 2 points if the defendant committed the instant offense less than two years after release from imprisonment on a sentence counted under (a) or (b) or while in imprisonment or escape status on such a sentence. If 2 points are added for item (d), add only 1 point for this item.

(f) Add 1 point for each prior sentence resulting from a conviction of a crime of violence that did not receive any points under (a), (b), or (c) above because such sentence was considered related to another sentence resulting from a conviction of a crime of violence, up to a total of 3 points for this item. Provided, that this item does not apply where the sentences are considered related because the offenses occurred on the same occasion.


Check the Guidelines table to see where you are.

In my experience, Federal inmates with less than a year of sentence are typically given "supervised release", a kind of probation.

If it's more than a year , he's probably going to a federal prison or camp. Camps are like prisons with no wall, fences armed patrols, and see non-violent/non-drug convicted inmates with no prior problems at a jail or other prison.

Federal Prisons are rated as low, medium, high and max. See WWW.BOP.gov for more info about what kind of facilities they have. Your guy will probably go to a low if he's not eligible for a camp and has a non-violent record and is sentenced to less than two years.

All of this also depends on where the BOP has space within it's system... they love to move people around.

Determine the criminal history category and get back to us... we'll try and help some more.

Jake

I don't want to throw a wet blanket on this, & I maybe missing something but I was under the impression that the fed's had manditory sentences regarding a felon with a gun, & a gun & drugs they really hit you hard. I know here in Calif. your doing years for a charge like that. I'm not that familiar with how the fed's operate, so any enlightenment would be appriciated.------Ken

Ken's right about the Feds and Guns.. They will enhance for various things.. Especially if you have a history of drugs. They are handing out a lot of time for Felon in Poss. of a Firearm. I didn't get to read the complete thread but will try to get back on it in a little while.. (I'm away from the house)

Jake, I thank you for telling me where to go to look at the sentencing guideline! When I looked at it and saw the 4-6 months and thought noway! From what ATF and Adrians' PD has told me each charge (he is facing 3) carry a min. of 5 yrs but I guess they might be dropping 1 of them and to me that's the most serious one. They are trying to say that he used the gun. How could he have used the gun when he didn't even know it was in the truck?? And when they found the gun it was in a locked toolbox in the back of the truck and he didn't even have a key to the box! And they said that when they found it that the mag. was in the cab of the truck and the rifle was in the box, so how could he have used it?? It is absolutly amazing how the 'law enforcement' can lie and get away with it. One of the cops statements said that they 'found the rifle with a full loaded mag. inserted in the gun' and they are going with that one statement instead of the other 5 that say differently. Well, I got off the topic again, sorry, I can do that alot when it comes to talking about his case. I would love to explain it detail by detail to anyone who is intrested and would be able to help lead me/us in the right direction for help on what to do. Thanks for listening!!
-Stephanie, Adrian and Justin

Hi A'sgrl and others,

Fed-X and the others are also right, A's... the Feds have a nasty thing called mandatory minimums for certain offenses. I'd have to check the exact charge but I'm pretty sure that Felon in Possession of a firearm is one of them. Do you have a warrant or charging document that shows something like "...in violation of 18 USC XXXX" (the XXX wil be the code cite).

I was in Federal prison with several guys doing A LOT of time for this and (three years ago) it was very vaguely worded law and a felon just about ANYWHERE NEAR a gun could be charged. I think the Man Min is 5 years but I'll look it up. You might also find some more info at WWW.FAMM.ORG. The initials stand for Fmailies Against Manditory Minimums and theire web site offers a lot of info. I got interested in FAMM because their magazine is passed around free at a lot of prisons... I'd encourage anyone to support their efforts if they can.

As Fed-X said, also look into the Guidelines under 'Enhancements'. A enhancement is a addition to the sentence for behavior other than the crime itself.

David's also right that the Feds have had a kick going for a long time now on Guns, Drugs, and Felons (even worse if they also found money).

I hope this info helps and I'll keep watch for more stuff from the community.

Jake