It is essential to understand what the charge of drug trafficking means in the state of Florida, as well as the specifics of the legislation. reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Confidentiality is what makes the informant valuable. Secondly, know all the versions of the s. Attorney Raul Loya, who represented them, said the federal agents handling Lalo were a joke. In the 1960s, a trio of Supreme Court decisions Hoffa v. United States, Lewis v. United States, and Osborn v. United States made clear that police have a relatively free hand to use informants. confidential relationship is or should be formed by use of the site. In most cases involving a confidential informant they, by necessity, use people that have a horrible criminal history. "This is not an appropriate case to comment on, because the procedures that we implemented weren't followed.". Can a REDDI Report Be the Legal Basis for a Traffic Stop? Saying they have a CI may be a cover for ill-gotten evidence and information. For example, if law enforcement arrests you with a larger quantity of a specific substance you may face a longer prison sentence. code or county). When police are working with people who they are locking up or threatening to lock up, you may start to wonder if the police are looking out for the Governments confidential informants, or is their first priority obtaining convictions and if so, how much does the Government really care about the safety and welfare of their Confidential Informants? The guidelines can be used to develop or revise written directives for using and managing informants. Gonzalez says when he tried to question the informant, ICE circled its wagons around Lalo. by swilliamslaw | Aug 4, 2020 | Criminal Defense, DUI. If youre worried about how to beat a confidential informant, let the, represent you. There are many other illegal narcotics to which the charges may apply, including MDMA, MDA, prescription pills, and more. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS Counter-Terrorism and Countering Violent Extremism, Intelligence Management and Intelligence Led Policing, Expert testimony -Confidential Informant Management, The Human Source Management System (confidential informant book), Human Sources - Managing Confidential Informants, FREE: Intelligence Led Policing - Training Literature, FREE Deploying undercover officers or confidential informants into places of worshipNew Page, Free: Dealing with Domestic Violence: A guide for Police Officers, Motives and Motivations of Confidential Informants, Why - Understanding Motive and Motivation. The CI may be working several buy busts before the CIs work is finished with the police. %PDF-1.3 % You can be called as a witness to testify on the governments behalf if the person you snitched on requests a jury trial. As part of the review process, respondents must affirm that they have had an initial consultation, are currently a client or have been a client of the lawyer or law firm identified, although Martindale-Hubbell cannot confirm the lawyer/client relationship as it is often confidential. This rating indicates the attorney is widely respected by their peers for high professional achievement and ethical standards. Additionally, the severity of the penalties associated with each charge worsen as the amount of drugs found in your control increases. 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. It all depends on the facts of your case. Disclose the CI and risk the safety of their informant, lose their access to information, and discourage others from helping police in the future, or. 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. It should be noted as well that it is very risky and dangerous to put out on social media or in the rumor mill that someone is working as a CI. Revealing the CIs identity puts the informant and sometimes their family in great danger due to, There might be several unhappy criminals and their associates or family members looking to exact revenge or. Once the case was done, ICE was also done with Lalo. You impeach them on the stand, which discredits the evidence, information, and testimony they give. The killings in Juarez took place more than six years ago. "It hit me like cold water in the face; it just feels terrible. Typically the police are in plain clothes in an undercover vehicle.. All of this is a disguise so that you cannot know the police are watching. Whatever the amount of money that may be offered in exchange for you becoming a CI may not be worth you and your loved ones being put in danger. In some states, you can be charged on the uncorroborated word of an informant--even if no drugs or money are recovered. If you are working as a CI, you may be wondering, how many buys are enough to work off my charges? 913 to the runner, Guillermo Eduardo Ramirez Peyro, who went by the nickname Lalo. Terms of Service apply. Among the victims were two U.S. residents. and Raul Loya. For example, there is a difference between the criminal offense of drug possession and drug traffickingbut what is the difference and how do you know which is applicable in your specific case? Mr. Shafran has years of experience defending the rights of clients in a court of law and has secured a successful outcome for many individuals. . There is case law that the defense attorney can argue about disclosing the identity of tipsters versus active participants in criminal cases that involve CIs. However, this does not have to be the case. A lock ( Here in Mexico, there is no justice, only impunity. In an interview with NPR, Kumar Kibble, a top ICE official and a former director of criminal investigations for the agency, says, "I want to emphasize that our primary obligation is to protect life and limb." He was also very reassuring to us, the distressed parents, and always provided an almost immediate response to our questions and concerns. I am not saying my child didnt have a breakdown. You may not see or notice the police. Members of Mexico's Federal Agency of Investigations excavate the yard at the House of Death after two bodies were found there. advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no attorney-client or The amount of a drug for which trafficking charges are applicable varies depending on the substance. According to a document obtained by NPR, Lalo admitted to Mexican authorities in Dallas that on his way to the house, he stopped at a local hardware store and bought duct tape and quicklime essential items for binding murder victims and dissolving their remains. Justin is an absolute professional and took the time I needed to explain the process and his role thoroughly. Police and prosecutors generally want to keep the identity of their CI a secret. That meant Lalo was to go and get the house ready, because someone was going to be brought there and be killed. However, an informant whos been burnt obviously wont be trusted in their typical circles. You can receive an entirely free case evaluation with absolutely no obligation. In many cases, the confidential informant is facing some type of criminal charges themselves, so their cooperation is motivated by the possibility of lessening their own charges. It has been dubbed the House of Death. Specifically, ICE officials say Bencomo was terminated because he didn't tell supervisors that Lalo was still involved with murder and torture in Juarez. A lawyer may be able to communicate with the agent to notify the agent you no longer wish to work as a snitch, or at least get an idea of how many more times the agent expects you to work. Jordan says on top of all that, ICE knew who was doing the killing and where the bodies were buried, but didn't share any of that information with Mexican authorities. The majority of informants are those working off . The monograph is organized around the confidential informant's employment: recruitment, selection, orientation, and training; direction and control; interviewing and debriefing; evaluation; and termination. He's clean-cut and clearly educated. It's also the least painful and expensive. Bencomo says the agents were told that Santillan was the No. The extant literature on the topic is primarily comprised of experientially based practical guides to informant management and a handful of field studies drawing information from informants in the study of other undercover practices. You may feel you are being watched. The purpose of the ruling is to establish an informant . And the devices are constantly evolving and improving. You may have signed up to be a CI under duress or felt forced into it after the police threatened to lock you up for the rest of your life or arrest other family members involved with drug activity. The feds paid Lalo well: nearly $250,000 over four years. But those familiar with the case wonder how ICE could not have known about Lalo's exploits in Mexico the majority of which took place at a house in a middle-class neighborhood in Juarez. You must have an associate's degree and a bachelor's degree in the relevant areas. We came back night after night to see how many they dug up.". 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". Fabricating a confidential informant can lead to dire consequencesfor the objects of police raids if things go awry. If the CI's reports are consistent with other reports by third parties, it will increase a CI's credibility in court. Lawyers solicited for peer reviews include both those selected by the attorney being reviewed and lawyers independently selected by Martindale-Hubbell. Courtesy Texas DMV, U.S. D.O.J. Is a Confidential Informant Truthful? will know how to maneuver in the courtroom and lead a witness to provide information that supports the defenses theory of the case. LockA locked padlock At Weinstein Legal, we work diligently to uncover all of the facts surrounding your case and believe that this is essential when considering how to beat a drug trafficking charge. Mexican law enforcement officials load a corpse found at the Juarez drug cartel's House of Death into a truck in January 2004. Visit our attorney directory to find a lawyer near you who can help. To the U.S. government, he was officially informant No. The government could decide to charge someone who does that with obstruction of justice, among other things. Lalo has been in solitary confinement for more than five years. $2M Missouri witness protection fund finds few takers in second year of operation, Confidential Informants Review of Houston Police Narcotics Unit. If the said information was procured outside of standard procedure (illegal or questionable means), they might use the CI excuse. The only way to create an attorney-client relationship with the Firm is through a written agreement.Read More. See are article relating to Missouri's witness protection program and the lack of uptake. 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. Courtesy Texas DMV, U.S. D.O.J. Criminal defense attorneys have a host of tools to do this. Copyright 2023 Weinstein Legal. For example, if it can be shown that the confidential informant had the opportunity to obtain drugs and plant them, the evidence obtained in the controlled buy would be useless. Former ICE Agent Raul Bencomo, recalling listening to a tape recording that Lalo made of a murder. NPR obtained an internal agency memo written in May 2004 that clearly prohibits using informants who commit crimes. For a free legal consultation, call 215.515.3360. Lalo's information was on the mark. Even with the promise of payment, the decision to become a CI is very dangerous. Whether you are a first-time offender or you have received charges in the past relating to drugs or other criminal activity, the team at Weinstein Legal is here to help. These guys are El Paso's version of the Keystone Kops," Loya says. 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. But former DEA Special Agent Phil Jordan says in Lalo's case, every federal rule and regulation was broken. This monograph provides guidelines for law enforcement agencies to use in the management of confidential informants. Informants are another kind of source (ie persuading activists already in political groups to pass on information about the activities and intentions of their fellow protesters). But Bencomo stayed on, and so did Lalo. Possession, use, administration, acquisition, sale, manufacture or transportation of dangerous drugs; classification. Often paper trails will be used to support an informant\'s version of events, such as cell phone and travel records. Call 954-845-0505 today. The CI may be charged with a serious drug (or other) criminal offense. Informants nationwide end up beaten, tortured and dead once they're found out. 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. By declaring a CI provided the intel, the police may try to get away with introducing the information to the case without explanation. My reservations were quickly eased during my initial consultation. In most cases, confidential informants are suspects that have been arrested or convicted for crimes of their own, but cut a deal with police and prosecutors to reduce their sentence in exchange. The Drug Enforcement Administration blacklisted him. Eventually, U.S. officials told Mexican authorities about the bodies buried at the House of Death. The team at Weinstein Legal will evaluate your case and can best advise you on the strategy we will use in regard to how to beat a drug trafficking charge, therefore preserving your freedoms and constitutional rights. If law enforcement learns otherwise, all deals or hopes of deals could be off between the Government and the CI. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. ICE's Kumar Kibble insists that his agency has already thoroughly investigated the matter. But during our interview, ICE said that handbook still isn't finished. Jordan was an expert witness in a civil suit filed against ICE by relatives of people killed by the Mexican drug cartel. Confidential Informants: Engage in violations of Federal and state laws while providing information to the FBI. He says Lalo was the keeper of the keys. 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.