Birrell Law Firm Blog - MN Criminal Defense Attorneys

March 26, 2020

About Federal Crimes

A defendant that’s been charged with a criminal crime may eventually learn that their crime has been classified as a federal offense. If a defendant violated federal laws, they have committed a federal crime. They need to be tried in federal courts rather than state courts. In most cases, a […]

March 26, 2020

Finding a Great Attorney for a Federal Crime Case

Have you learned that there’s been a federal crime investigation open against you? When you’ve been indicted on federal crime charges finding an excellent attorney to defend you is highly important. How is this accomplished? It takes an excellent criminal defense attorney to win these types of cases. Some have […]

March 26, 2020

Sentencing Guidelines for Offences in Federal Courts

When a crime is prosecuted in a federal court the trials will follow federal procedures. It only makes sense for a federal court to set their own guidelines when sentencing in their own courts. These guidelines were actually enacted fairly recently as a result of some sentencing discrepancies. This enactment […]

March 26, 2020

The 3 Key Steps After You Receive A Target Letter

For most people, most of the time, being targeted by a federal investigation is so unlikely that it sounds like the punchline of a joke. Things turn very serious very quickly when you receive a target letter and learn you are, in fact, being investigated. For most people who receive […]

March 26, 2020

U.S. Attorney’s Target Letters: Basic Samples

In our many years of experience, we have seen a wide variety of target letters issued by different agencies within the Department of Justice. We have prepared some sample target letters to give you a better idea of how these instruments work. (Note that all target letters will be sent […]

March 26, 2020

FBI Investigations

What Exactly Is White-Collar Crime? As a broad term, white-collar crime covers a wide array of nonviolent crimes that typically involve one form of fraud or another. A good example is bribery, environmental crime, insider trading, embezzlement, tax evasion, forgery, kickbacks, or money laundering. Per the FBI, these crimes can […]

March 26, 2020

Defining The “Target Letters” Sent By Federal Grand Juries

Why and when do Federal Grand Juries send out “target letters”? How likely is it that a person who receives a target letter is going to be indicted? A Federal Grand Jury is an important body charged with investigating potential violations of federal law. Their chief power lies in their […]

March 26, 2020

What You Should Do If You Receive A Target Letter

If you receive a target letter, you want to avoid ignoring it altogether. After all, if you have received a letter, the U.S Attorney has accumulated and presented enough evidence in order to legally obtain an indictment from a grand jury. Therefore, by ignoring the letter, you will pretty much […]

March 17, 2020

How Does A Federal Court Case Work?

Federal crimes are handled quite differently from crimes charged at the local and state level. First and foremost, a federal crime is prosecuted by a federal branch — specifically, the United States Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division. This division has seven different branches that prosecute different crimes. Which branch prosecutes your […]