From 10 To Life to Probation

A.P. was facing an investigation in Denver, Colorado for running a private marijuana club in the United States. When A.P. retained us, he was under criminal investigation by the DEA, FBI, and IRS for various crimes as a result of running a multi-million-dollar unlicensed dispensary. We immediately scheduled a meeting with the prosecutor handling the matter. Ultimately, we convinced the prosecutor to proceed with one charge: Making and Subscribing a False Tax Return and Aiding and Abetting the Same in violation of 26 U.S.C. 7206(1). By doing so, we limited A.P.’s sentencing exposure to a maximum of 36 months rather than life. A.P. was a veteran of the United States Army who served in combat, in Iraq, for a year and suffers from severe PTSD and debilitating effects of head injuries he endured in combat. He also has a number of prior arrests and convictions on his record that could be used against him. First, we gathered as much information about his service in the military as possible. We then requested records of his service. We drafted and filed a sentence memorandum for the judge that argued, among other things, that A.P.’s service should be taken into account as well as his severe PTSD, in assessing an appropriate sentence. We attached A.P.’s VA records to support our position. The government filed a sentencing memorandum arguing that A.P. be sentenced to 36 months incarceration for his crime. At sentencing, and based on our arguments and sentencing memorandum, A.P. was sentenced to 3 years of supervised release.