Criminal Justice
Dismissal of Criminal Case for Constitutional Violations
McDermott won a startling victory for a client by persuading the U.S. Department of Justice to dismiss all charges in a criminal narcotics case pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California before Judge Ronald Whyte.
Our client was indicted in connection with an alleged conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in an amount greater than 50 grams. He faced a 10 year mandatory minimum sentence if convicted. Our client, who is married and has five children (all of whom are U.S. citizens), would also have been forcibly deported after serving his sentence. He had no previous felony convictions.
The unusual facts of the case centered around an undercover operation by San Jose police in 2000 that focused on a different defendant. During one of the drug sales between the police and the target of the drug investigation, our client is alleged to have driven to the scene of the crime carrying a pound of methamphetamine. The undercover officer—who interacted with the driver for no more than 13 seconds—claimed that he recognized our client as a person he arrested one year earlier. However, the previous identification of our client was highly suspect, and the government could not locate the records that supposedly identified our client as the person who was previously arrested.
Based on this scant evidence, the federal government charged our client in a criminal complaint in 2001. He was indicted in 2005 as the statute of limitations was expiring. Our client was not arrested until December 2009, nine years after the alleged crime, upon being stopped for driving with a broken taillight.
The McDermott team argued mistaken identity to the U.S. Attorney's Office and that our client's ability to defend himself had been seriously impaired by the police department's mishandling of a variety of pieces of evidence, including the loss of all key documents from the 1999 case and the photographic identification of the suspect in the drug sale. Also, the government had apparently deported the sole non-law enforcement witness—the other defendant who pled guilty to distributing methamphetamine in 2003. Further, although the other defendant had entered into a cooperation agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration, they had neglected to interview him about our client's alleged participation in the crime.
After lengthy negotiations during which McDermott threatened to bring motions to dismiss the indictment for violations of our client's speedy trial rights under the Sixth Amendment due to the undue and prejudicial delay in prosecuting the case, the Department of Justice was ultimately persuaded to drop the entire case voluntarily. Although our client, who lacks immigration status, still faces deportation proceedings, the lack of a felony conviction greatly increases his chances of securing relief.