The statute that outlines drug trafficking laws specifically in the state of Florida is Chapter 893.135. "I was shocked. 810 Seventh Street NW, Washington, DC 20531, United States, 1219 Prince Street, Suite 2, Alexandria, VA 22314, United States. It may be possible to show that the confidential informant has ulterior motives in sharing information with the police and that the facts they provide may be false. If the CI doesnt testify against you but the State uses the evidence from the CI against you, your attorney would need to know how to argue against the admissibility of this information. Martindale-Hubbell validates that a reviewer is a person with a valid email address. 5 Factors Courts Will Consider. Exposing the confidential informants identity would spell the end of the governments ability to use that informant again in the future. Attorney Raul Loya, who represented them, said the federal agents handling Lalo were a joke. A conviction can have far-reaching negative impacts on your life and you stand to lose quite a few freedoms. Demonstrate any past instances of false or invalidated evidence or information they have provided. Thus, when police make promises that a CIs charges will be dropped or that a CI will not have to testify, dont believe this sometimes its true, sometimes its not. We came back night after night to see how many they dug up.". A decade ago, at 2 a.m., a Mexican drug runner walked over the international bridge that links El Paso, Texas, with Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and asked to speak with a U.S. agent. FindLaw.com Free, trusted legal information for consumers and legal professionals, SuperLawyers.com Directory of U.S. attorneys with the exclusive Super Lawyers rating, Abogado.com The #1 Spanish-language legal website for consumers, LawInfo.com Nationwide attorney directory and legal consumer resources. . . This decision can affect you and others for the rest of your life. Acting under orders of the police, an informant may purchase drugs, place calls, or try to get the suspect to make an incriminating statement so the police can arrest . 6. But it wasn't just the people of Juarez who were outraged. Theres another reason police may want to keep the identity of their informant a secret: they dont have one. A. Bencomo says his supervisors told him just to make sure Lalo didn't participate in any more killings. ICE's Kumar Kibble insists that his agency has already thoroughly investigated the matter. This important decision can affect you the rest of your life and possibly even your loved ones or friends. Some people have heard of the witness protection program in movies or TV shows. 5. The CI will likely be paying with marked money. This creates a record that the deal happened and that the informant is telling the truth about the amount of drugs and money involved, particularly if the seller is arrested immediately and in possession of the bills with pre-recorded serial numbers. At a Border Patrol checkpoint, Lalo got caught smuggling more than 100 pounds of marijuana stuffed into the wheels of his pickup. Marvin Christensen @MarvinChristensen988. Gonzalez says when he tried to question the informant, ICE circled its wagons around Lalo. On the tape, Lalo looks more like a victim than a drug thug. The CI may do controlled buys. This means that the CI will have an agreement with the police. But she did. Although these types of cases can be difficult to defend, there are several ways to fight evidence gathered from a confidential informant. Criminal defense attorney Matt Shafran at Weinstein Legal is precisely the representation you need. My reservations were quickly eased during my initial consultation. 0000017403 00000 n Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome and Martindale-Hubbell accepts no responsibility for the content or accuracy of any review. Informants. No one. The high court held that reliance on informant testimony implicates . That's all I'm doing right now.". Call 954-845-0505 any time, day or night, to speak with a member of our team. Our son had been in substance abuse treatment for almost My son, a student at the University of Miami, was facing 2 serious drug related felonies. It is up to the police to decide how many deals you do, regardless of whether you have safety concerns or feel that the work you have already done is enough for the Government. "So where are we going to find any help if we can't trust the U.S.?". Attorneys that receive reviews from their peers, but not a sufficient number to establish a Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating, will have those reviews display on our websites. When a snitch provides incriminating evidence that leads to arrest, the government must now disclose non-identifying information about the source of the police officer's information. xref This is the first time that Bencomo has talked publicly. The more specific and detailed, the more likely a court is to accept a CI's information. There are several ways to become an FBI informant. If you receive drug trafficking charges in the state of Florida and the prosecution notes that they had the help of a confidential informant, it is important to know that you may never find out who this person is. But Bencomo stayed on, and so did Lalo. It depends. Is a Confidential Informant Truthful? 0000000966 00000 n If the judge grants the motion to compel disclosure, the prosecution has some tough choices to make: If they dont want to burn their CI or if they dont have one, they wont disclose the identity, and the case will be dismissed. This rating indicates the attorney is widely respected by their peers for high professional achievement and ethical standards. there are basically two types of police investigation, reactive and proactive. 0000017958 00000 n Once the government uses you as a CI, they can be done with you. A few other articles found on the internet will give an expanded version of that list. And the devices are constantly evolving and improving. Human motives and motivation is a complex subject with many competing theories. A confidential informant can be used to facilitate multiple deals and inform on various situations if no one knows theyre doing it. Confidential informants are one of those things that seem to lurk around in the underground of criminal activity. A confidential informant, casually called a "snitch," is a person who tells the police about suspected criminals and tells them everything he or she knows about said suspect. Today, no one goes to the metal gate at the house where cartel murderers brought their victims and ultimately buried them in the tiny backyard. listings on the site are paid attorney advertisements. Law enforcement monitors the controlled buy through audio and/or video surveillance, which is usually recorded. "He had a lot of information, and the type of information that he started providing was at a high level," Bencomo says. Informants nationwide end up beaten, tortured and dead once they're found out. The government can get so preoccupied with making a case that the safety and welfare of a CI is not a priority. The use of informants by police is essentially unregulated by the courts. However, the identity of a confidential informant will be revealed to the Defendant if the Defendant goes to trial. It is ugly. He tipped Bencomo to a corrupt U.S. immigration agent who was taking bribes from drug gangs. Timeline: An ICE Informant Run Amok Or Mishandled? Theres another reason police may want to keep the identity of their informant a secret: they dont have one. The Client Review Rating score is determined through the aggregation of validated responses. You deserve the same chance at having an excellent legal defense. Though widely acknowledged as vital to law enforcement, social scientists have largely ignored the practice of confidential informing. Distinguished: An excellent rating for a lawyer with some experience. "They are poorly trained, they have limited education, which is fine, but they had no business being involved in a cross-border covert operation involving drugs and murder.". The majority of informants are those working off their own cases. He is already one step ahead of the prosecutor and is well familiar with the techniques they will likely employ in an attempt to convict you. If the CI's reports are consistent with other reports by third parties, it will increase a CI's credibility in court. He will stop at nothing to ensure that your rights remain protected and that you receive a fair day in court. Go to a law library and take a look at the United States Code Annotated or the United States Code Service for cases citing those statutes and see what happens when a confidential informant is "beaten". Head of the criminal defense division and fellow partner Matt Shafran is an experienced criminal defense attorney in Florida who is ready and willing to fight aggressively in a court of law to defend your rights. Matt was available throughout the process for consultations with both my son and his parents. Understanding motive and motivation. trailer You impeach them on the stand, which discredits the evidence, information, and testimony they give. **This website is meant to provide meaningful information, but does not create an attorney-client relationship. In the United States, you must also remember that as a defendant in a criminal case you have the right to face your accused. Criminal defense attorneys have a host of tools to do this. By searching the informant, surveilling the buy, and taking other similar measures, the goal is to eliminate the possibility that the informant could plant the drugs on the suspect in order to fulfill the deal with the police. Some training courses, available for law enforcement officers, will claim to be able to provide officers with everything they need to know about managing confidential informants, including motivation, in one or two days. Our consultant Dr John Buckley will be. Being a convicted felon means that the criminal offense will always show up on a background check and you may find it difficult to find housing or employment in the future. These steps are as follows: Earn a College Degree: Applying for the job of a confidential informant, you have to complete a college degree. Matt provided knowledgeable advice regarding bond arrangements suggesting he get back into his routine immediately since he had been doing so well. The prosecution is not required to reveal CIs in discovery unless knowing their identity is detrimental to the defendants case. Confidential informants arent the same as anonymous sources or tipsters. Payments to informants are a thorny issue for the bureau, because agents know defense lawyers will use the payments to question the credibility of an informant while he or she is testifying . The best way to beat the system and stay out of prison is don't break the law. In the state of Florida, minimum prison sentences for drug trafficking charges begin at three years and may exceed a period of fifteen years depending on the circumstances surrounding your case. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. It is not like the old school movies where you can see a wire taped under someones shirt. 913 to the runner, Guillermo Eduardo Ramirez Peyro, who went by the nickname Lalo. However, this does not have to be the case. Confidential informants people who pose as criminals so they can provide information to the police or some government agency have helped crack some major U.S. cases. Some informants have personalities that make them difficult to manage. The CI may be required to testify in a trial of the person they are snitching on. "Even if the man was John Gotti in his prime, you do not allow an informant to run the investigation; you do not let the informant commit felonies, to commit murder," he says. Thus, a court needs some basis for a CI's allegations. "He would say, 'We're going to have a barbecue.' You may not see or notice the police. Both federal and state law enforcement officers use confidential informants. and Raul Loya Confidential informants people who pose. Even if the man was John Gotti in his prime, you do not allow an informant to run the investigation; you do not let the informant commit felonies, to commit murder. When considering how to beat a drug trafficking charge in the state of Florida, many individuals wonder what defenses are available to them. LockA locked padlock Attention is given to forms, reports, records, and files that are the foundation of the information gathering and control procedures. Meeting with a lawyer can help you understand your options and how to best protect your rights. Bencomo says Lalo was different from other informants. Additionally, the severity of the penalties associated with each charge worsen as the amount of drugs found in your control increases. "It was so horrible. Lalo has been in solitary confinement for more than five years. These Guidelines apply to the use of a Confidential Informant in a foreign country only to the extent that the Confidential Informant is reasonably likely to be called to testify in a domestic case. If you have questions regarding drugs charges, or any other criminal defense matters, please contact Ketcham Law for a consultation by calling us at (205) 296-4233. By declaring a CI provided the intel, the police may try to get away with introducing the information to the case without explanation. For now, he said, jail is better than the fate he faces in Mexico. Typically, the process requires that the confidential informant be thoroughly searched before going into the controlled buy to ensure they are not already in possession of any drugs.