Welcome back and thanks for joining us again. We’ve been discussing the differences between being accused of a sex crime by a county prosecutor here in Michigan, and being accused of a sex assault crime by the feds. In both cases, the crime might have happened here in Michigan, but that’s where the similarities will stop. As we mentioned in the previous article, there’s a big difference between state charges and federal charges. And it’s not just the seemingly limitless funding available to the feds, or the huge differences in how the rules of disclosure are handled. There’s a lot more…
“Bail” is different when it’s a federal case
In the federal system, we don’t talk about bail. Instead it’s called pretrial release. Before the federal magistrate or judge makes a decision about whether or not to grant pretrial release, the defendant is interviewed by a federal probation agent and a recommendation is sent to the judge about whether or not to grant the pretrial release. That doesn’t happen in our state system, where the magistrate or district court judge makes a decision at the arraignment hearing about whether or not to grant bail to the defendant. The judge also decides at that time what, if any, conditions need to be met, and how much has to be paid.
Federal punishments are much more severe
There have been many cases over the years in Michigan, where the county prosecutor has decided that the defendant needs a harsher penalty than Michigan law offers, and has turned the case over to the feds for prosecution by a United States Attorney. Why would that matter? Because in many instances, federal law recommends much longer prison sentences than Michigan’s criminal sentencing guidelines. For example, under Michigan law a person convicted of producing child pornography would be looking at a maximum of 20 years in prison. Under federal law the maximum is 30 years. So as you can see, being charged with a sex crime by the feds is a really big deal!
Fighting the feds is much harder than fighting the state!
That’s why it’s so important to hire a criminal defense law firm that has a sex crime defense team with the capability of conducting its own in-depth and thorough investigations on your behalf. You definitely wouldn’t want to be clueless about what a witness for the prosecution is going to say about you in court! So if you or a friend are under investigation for a sex crime offense, by the state of Michigan or by our federal government, call The Kronzek Firm immediately at 866 766 5245 (866 7No Jail). Our highly skilled and experienced sex crime defense attorneys have decades of experience defending people against allegations in both state and federal courts around Michigan. We’ve been doing this since last century and we’re very good at it, which is exactly what you need if you’re up against the feds!