May 18, 2022.

I called legendary North Carolina criminal defense lawyer Joe Cheshire last week because I couldn’t remember his county count.

Joe is one helluva storyteller, and when he talks about going into smaller counties, he often mentions he   has defended cases in 86 of our 100 counties

I folded out the latest North Carolina highway map and a yellow highlighter yesterday.  Turns out that after nearly 30 years fighting cases in the Tar Heel state, my count is 43 counties.

Halfway to Joe!

NC Highlighted Map1

Back in the pandemic summer of 2020, we longtime criminal defense lawyers quietly wondered how long it would take for a wave of federal PPP loan fraud investigations to arrive. Now that tide is coming in. Federal agents from the Small Business Administration and the Secret Service are in Greater Charlotte knocking on doors of small and medium-sized business owners.

The laws and rules of the PPP Loan program under the CARES Act were hastily written (by necessity) and were changed midstream (also by necessity). Proof of loan fraud usually requires specific intent – that the borrower knew he or she was breaking the law when the application was submitted, or when the funds were used for a particular (unapproved) purpose.

Good faith mistakes are not a crime.

We often hear people say, “But if I get a lawyer won’t the police think that means I’m guilty?” I have a long speech why that mindset is just wrong. But let’s try this: in what other situation would you freely talk to a stranger who knocked on your door and asked to come into your home and pummel you with questions about something you did two years ago, without letting you re-group and look at underlying documents?

Good businessmen and women wouldn’t do that, but somehow a federal badge jars loose common sense. So remember this: the 5th Amendment is your right and your friend.

Plus, federal prosecutors seem to be charging people with making false statements to federal investigators more these days, in addition to or instead of the underlying crime that was being investigated. I wish more businessmen and women would politely but firmly decline to answer questions out of the blue.

But of course, if this happened, I might be out of a job, I guess.
All right, thanks for letting me vent. Back to work…

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chrisfialko_why-should-you-hire-an-attorney-criminal-activity-6899102415258234880-OYAs

On November 5, 2020, Fialko Law, PLLC received a Metro Tier One ranking in the 2021 Edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” in Criminal Defense: General Practice and White-Collar in Charlotte.

U.S. News explains, “This year we reviewed 15,587 law firms throughout the United States – across 75 national practice areas – and a total of 2,179 firms received a national law firm ranking. We are proud that the ‘Best Law Firms’ rankings continue to act as an indicator of excellence throughout the legal industry.” Check out the U.S. News release here.

Hey fellow criminal defense lawyers:  Read this if a judge or prosecutor has ever questioned you for fighting an issue “that doesn’t matter anyway.”

Last year, I gained the release of an old federal client, Ian P., even though he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in 2003.  Here’s how it happened.

Way back in 2002, David Rudolf and I defended Ian at trial in federal court in Charlotte for trafficking large amounts of cocaine. The evidence was rough, but Ian had no interest in becoming a cooperating informant with the prosecution. And because he had two prior felony convictions for smallish amounts of marijuana, he was facing mandatory life without parole if he pleaded straight guilty, unless the prosecutor withdrew the prior record penalty enhancement.  She refused.

So we fought like hell at trial.  I filed a motion arguing that the jury should make the decision whether Ian actually had two prior felony drug convictions, not the judge.  The District Judge was grumpy about this motion because the Supreme Court had decided in 1998 that prior convictions were not elements of the offense that the Constitution required the jury to find. (Almendarez-Torres v. United States)

I thought the newer case of Apprendi v. New Jersey.  threw Almendarez-Torres into doubt, but no one else did.  The motion was denied.  The jury convicted Ian after a week-long trial.

At his original sentencing in January 2003, I filed objections renewing that argument, but also contending that the government did not proved our client used a firearm during the offense, which would add about two years to his sentence under the guidelines.

The prosecutor was angry. She felt she proved at trial that Ian used a gun,  and that it  just “did not matter” due to the 3-strikes rule – he was going to get life without parole, so two extra years was meaningless in her mind.

We persisted.

At the sentencing hearing, the judge agreed with me that there just wasn’t enough evidence connecting the lone gun found by the police to my client.  So the +2 offense level points did not count. (The prosecutor was livid.)

Still, the judge had no choice but to sentence Ian to life imprisonment without parole.

In 2010, Asheville criminal defense lawyer Andy Banzhoff had a new idea for one of his clients:  maybe North Carolina drug cases do not count as felony convictions because under our Structured Sentencing statute, the maximum punishment can be less than a year imprisonment if the defendant has a relatively clean prior record.  Banzhoff and other appeals lawyers fought this fight in United States v. Simmons for several years, and eventually won.  (I drafted an amicus brief in that case which you can see here.)

Suddenly, Ian had a chance – one of his prior convictions was in North Carolina for marijuana, and at the time of his conviction his record was light.

In 2013 I filed a habeas petition seeking a re-sentencing due to the Simmons decision.  It was denied on the basis that Simmons should not be applied retroactively.  Eventually, the Fourth Circuit decided Simmons should be applied retroactively.

I filed again, and this time it worked – in 2019 the District Court granted Ian a new sentencing hearing.

And this is where the “meaningless” fight over the +2 gun enhancement in 2003 mattered – which I’ll explain in a minute.

At the re-sentencing hearing in August 2019, this is what I told the judge:

Ian woke up in prison every day for 6,752 days. He lived a life and improved. He slowly changed his perspective. He learned yoga and meditation. He took all kinds of Bureau of Prisons self-improvement classes, even though he was serving life without parole.  We showed the judge dozens of class completion certificates.  Ian became a meditation teacher in prison.

He was also lucky: a long-time friend took in his infant son. Every other month his friend brought Ian’s son to the prison for a visit.  Ian wrote monthly letters to his son, encouraging him to focus on education.  His son graduated from high school and enlisted in the military.

The judge re-sentenced Ian to 22 years imprisonment instead of life.  If the gun enhancement had applied, he would have gotten 24 years.

Ian had served 18.5 years already, and with the small amount of earned time he achieved, Ian was released within a month.

He was out because we fought the “meaningless” good fight.

 

Last week I was named the Best Lawyers® 2021 Criminal Defense: White-Collar “Lawyer of the Year” in Charlotte.

I usually don’t tout such awards.  I rely on my reputation and work to gain new clients.  But I confess I’m proud of this particular recognition for three reasons.

First, I achieved it from a different angle than prior recipients – I almost exclusively represent human beings in white collar investigations, not companies.  There are many great white collar defense lawyers in Charlotte who focus on representing big companies and their high-level executives.  I learned a lot over the years from these lawyers.  They sometimes bring me into cases to represent other employees.   But I focus on representing owners, managers, or employees in small and medium businesses.

Second, this was a plan I hatched 16 years ago.  From 1994 – 2003 I defended people in blue-collar crimes in state and federal court – everything from robbery to DWI, from drug offenses to homicides.  In 2003 I crafted a plan to try to break into the white collar field.  It took patience, hustle, and a willingness to learn.  Some of the skills of blue collar defense – cross-examination, independent investigation, listening to clients – translated to white collar.  But I kept my eyes open and learned new skills.  It’s fun to make a plan and achieve the goal — a thriving white collar practice.

Third, I think Best Lawyers/U.S. News have the best method – peer voting by other lawyers and judges in each field.  It feels good to earn this vote from the white collar defense community here in Charlotte.

Enough of the self-promotion.  Back to work.