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Welcome to the website for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California. On this site you will find press releases and public announcements, my monthly reports about the office’s activities, and information about our district, our office and what we do. There are also descriptions about various programs and initiatives involving our office and links to websites for the federal courts, law enforcement agencies and task forces, as well as other useful sites.
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September 2012
Issue No. 30
The U.S. Attorney's
Report to the District
In a U.S. Supreme Court opinion earlier this year, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the criminal justice system today “is for the most part a system of pleas, not a system of trials.” He observed that about 97% of federal convictions nationwide are the result of guilty pleas. The statistics for this district are roughly consistent with that figure. As Justice Kennedy wrote in the same opinion, noting the prevalence of plea bargaining is not to criticize it. Courts have long approved of plea agreements as central to the administration of justice. Securing a conviction by guilty plea rather than jury trial is vastly more efficient, conserves investigative, prosecutorial and judicial resources, and spares victims the agony of testifying in a public trial. Plea agreements serve the interests of defendants, too: the federal sentencing guidelines provide an incentive, in the form of a small potential reduction in sentence, for defendants who accept responsibility for their crimes and enter a timely guilty plea.
Some question a justice system so tightly bound to plea bargaining, and in a recent editorial by a national newspaper it was asserted that federal prosecutors unfairly coerce guilty pleas by charging more serious crimes than the evidence warrants. There is room to debate the proper role of plea bargaining, but the claim that federal prosecutors overcharge cases to gain a bargaining advantage is wrong. Federal prosecutors understand that their mission is to do justice in individual cases, not just to secure a conviction or to get the maximum sentence.
October 1, 2012
Mexican National Pleads Guilty to Growing Marijuana on an Ecological Reserve
Fresno Marijuana Store Owner Sent To Prison
Tulare County Agricultural Marijuana Cultivators Plead Guilty
Drug Courier Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison in Ongoing Nuestra Familia Drug Trafficking Prosecution
Fresno Man Sentenced to Two Years in Federal Prison for Conspiring to Commit Bank Fraud and Postal Crimes
Simi Valley Tobacco Distributor Sentenced for a Scheme to Avoid Paying $528,000 in Excise Tax
Bakersfield Man Pleads Guilty in Document Fraud Case
Roseville Couple Arrested for Loan Modification and Foreclosure Rescue Scheme
September 28, 2012
Fifth Nationwide Prescription Drug Take-Back Day Saturday, September 29, 2012
Suspect Arrested For Multimillion Dollar Foreclosure Rescue Scheme
Five Individuals Indicted In Major Counterfeit DVD/CD Trafficking Operation In Fresno
September 27, 2012
Environmental Charges Filed in Marijuana Cultivation Cases
Oakland Pimp Pleads Guilty to Exploiting 14-Year-Old Girl in Sacramento and Stockton
September 26, 2012