Since its inception in 1981, Eastland Law Offices has enjoyed many successes in assisting clients in avoiding federal indictments by local U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Department of Justice in Washington.  To what do we attribute these successes?

Rule Number 1:  Never Ever Say Never. 

So often the cases that come to us are supposedly lost causes with the clients and/or their lawyers that have associated us all but sure that attempting to avoid indictment is a lost cause and throwing good money after bad.  But Never Ever Say Never. 

To be sure, the cases are often very complicated and often seem that every time one issue is resolved in preparing to convince the federal prosecutors the client should not be indicted two more unresolved issues pop up.  We have found through experience, however, that if you never ever say never you can go a long way towards developing a formula for no prosecution.  Which brings us to Rule Number 2.

Rule Number 2:  You Must Earn It The Old-Fashioned Way—By Turning Every Stone Through Dogged Persistence, Determination and Hard Work. 

If you are to effectively assist a client in developing a formula for avoiding federal indictment, the only way to do it is to turn every stone through dogged persistence, determination and hard work.

You must in effect prepare your legal defenses before there is ever a federal prosecution if you are to convince the federal prosecutors that your client should not be indicted.  There is simply no substitute for very methodically analyzing the legal and factual issues, along with, for example, carefully considering what the client did or did not do; when did he do or not do it; why did he do or not do it; what, if anything, did he know about the alleged crime or alleged coconspirators or aiders and abettors, and when, if ever, did he know it? 

If you will take the time to very deliberately work through the client’s potential defenses and build his case before there is an indictment, you will go a long way towards developing a formula for no prosecution.  And the earlier you begin turning every stone and building your defenses and case for no prosecution through this process the better!

Rule Number 3:  Regardless Of How Seemingly Hopeless, There Is Very Often A Formula For Avoiding Prosecution—You Just Have To Figure Out What The Formula Is!

When cases are brought to us to consider a strategy for avoiding indictment, the legal and/or factual issues often seemingly point to very likely indictment and prosecution; the cases thus often appear to be all balled up in one big hopeless knot.  We have found through experience, however, that if you intensely focus on and sort out the issues, you can very often undo that seemingly hopeless knot one loop at a time until there is not more knot.  In other words, there is very often a formula for making a compelling argument with the federal prosecutors that the client should not be indicted—you just have to figure out what the formula is!

Rule Number 4:  Don’t Be Afraid To Think Outside The Box—There Are A Wide Variety Of Potential Formulas For Avoiding Indictment and Prosecution. 

Depending on the law and facts of each unique case, there are a wide range of potential formulas for avoiding indictment and prosecution.  For example, often by the time we are associated on a case the federal investigation has already progressed to the point that the clients are already considered targets for indictment and prosecution—through guilt by association with other targets if nothing else. 

But very careful and methodical assessment of the case and not being afraid to think outside the box in developing legal or factual defenses often leads to a compelling legal and factual arguments with the federal prosecutors that your client is in fact innocent. 

Furthermore, even if you can simply pour enough water on the federal prosecutor’s case to at least create a reasonable doubt with the prosecutor as to whether your client is guilty, the prosecutor will usually—even if reluctantly or begrudgingly—not indict.  Why?  Because prosecutors, with some overreaching and overzealous exceptions, by and large want to and/or can be convinced to do the right thing. 

And equally importantly, prosecutors do not like to lose.  Federal prosecutors know that if you can present compelling reasons to them that there is reasonable doubt about your client’s guilt, you and the legal team can create reasonable doubt with a jury.  We have often had prosecutors in U.S. Attorney’s Offices and at the Department of Justice in Washington say at the end of intense engagement on behalf of our client that they never thought they could be convinced not to indict, but they were now convinced they should not indict our client.

Similarly, depending on the law and facts of each unique case, there are other formulas for no prosecution which include, for example, immunity from indictment and prosecution for your client if the client is willing to cooperate with the government’s investigation and potential prosecution of others.

As a last pre-indictment resort, even if you are unable to convince the federal prosecutor your client should not be indicted and prosecuted, you can also often very substantially minimize your client’s exposure to significant prison time by engaging the prosecutors as early as possible and negotiating a favorable plea and information along with your client’s cooperation.  Beyond that, the obvious critical decision has to be made by the client and his lawyer whether they are likely to win at trial or likely to be convicted and be exposed to significant time in prison.

Rule Number 5:  Don’t Be Afraid To Engage The Prosecutors In The Grand Jury Investigative Process—And The Earlier The Better.

Our experience is that many clients and/or their lawyers are inclined not to engage the prosecutors during the federal investigation—and they often end up reading in the newspaper that their client has been indicted.  To be sure, there are often unique cases in which we will advise our clients to keep their heads down if there is a reasonable likelihood that doing so can avoid having them being drawn further into a federal investigation and increase the likelihood of their being indicted when chances are otherwise minimal that they will be indicted.  There are any number of practical factors that can counsel such a strategy, including, for example, your assessment that the investigation is taking a different direction with more likely targets or, for example, your assessment that the prosecutors have become preoccupied with other investigations entirely.

By and large, however, our experience is that lawyers should not be afraid to engage prosecutors in the investigative process if there is substantial risk and likelihood the client will be indicted, and your assessment reveals the indictment may potentially be avoided. This is especially true when your due diligence never say never hard work and preparation of the client’s defenses yields a compelling formula for assisting your client in avoiding indictment and prosecution.  There is often a formula—you just have to figure out what that formula is.