State vs Federal Criminal Cases…The Difference!
The differences between federal and state crimes can be complicated.
Many different laws overlap in
the criminal arena, and doubts and questions are created as to what criminal
court should prosecute the crime. If the crime happens in one state, it is
typically a state crime, unless it is an expressly named federal crime. But if
a crime occurs throughout many states, or crosses state lines, or occurs on or
to federal property it often becomes a federal crime. State crimes are
typically all conduct that violates state laws, such as murder, traffic
violations, and other areas where conduct is completely encompassed in the
state. Federal crimes are specifically enumerated federal offenses, such as IRS
violations, allegations of drug trafficking and possession, mail fraud,
kidnapping, counterfeiting, damaging or destroying mailboxes, and immigration
offenses.
When a crime committed seems that
it could be charged as a state crime or a federal crime, the US Constitution’s
“Supremacy Clause” states that federal law will trump state law, and the
federal authorities will take the case over. This happens more often than not
especially if the suspect(s) are of great interest and focus to federal law
enforcement.
The differences in legal jurisdictions and court case process are not
entirely different. The
main difference with legal jurisdictions is that jurisdiction in a federal
court is typically held by the
federal district near where the crime was committed. The exception would be if
the crime was committed in multiple jurisdictions. One example is the Black
Mafia Family (BMF) Federal Prosecutions where majority of the prosecutions were
conducted in
In handling the case, federal
courts follow the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, regardless of location. A
federal criminal case/indictment in
One of the more shocking differences in State and Federal prosecutions is
the evidence and the disclosure of the same. In a nutshell is can be summarized as such, in a
criminal case in state court there may be a folder or two of discovery which
can be a couple hundred pages at best. In federal criminal cases you are
looking at on average one or two bankers boxes
of documents, compact disks with additional federal law enforcement agent
reports, transcripts, audio and or video and any and all wiretap calls.
Reason for the difference?
Usually the extent, scope and focus of the investigation and who is conducting
the same makes the difference. In state court most prosecutions are swift and succinct.
The Feds look to a more comprehensive all encompassing “round up” of defendants
to target and indict. In state court you are usually looking at the
investigation of the city police, sheriffs department and or state trooper
investigators. In Federal Court you may have the latter law enforcement
agencies involved and the FBI ,DEA,
ATF, IRS, ICE if it is a joint federal task force case. If that is the case
(and even if it is just a strict federal law enforcement investigation) you will
have numerous police investigators working on a case therefore a substantial
amount of evidence or discovery.
Penalties and sentencing do differ in federal and state courts. In the federal courts, Federal judges use
a manual known as “The Federal Sentencing Guidelines” to advise them in
calculating penalties for serious offenses in sentencing. Although the
sentencing guidelines cannot be applied mandatorily, they are still used in
making penalty considerations.
In the state courts, penalties
and sentencing is often guided by state legislation, some states have sentencing
guidelines and some states the judge has the discretion of a minimum and
maximum range with no guideline factors. When passing state penal codes, the
legislature will place minimum and maximum sentencing penalties, such as a
state robbery charge carrying a sentencing scheme of 3-5-7 years. In that
scheme, a judge will use the factors to determine whether the crime deserved a
low, mid, or maximum sentence.
Also the enhancement systems/options are different in state and federal
criminal cases. These
differences are most important especially as in federal criminal court you when
have a point system that determines the guideline range of your sentence. That point
system is based on factors such as your background, criminal history and facts/allegations
that were established in your case. The development and adoption of those facts
by a sentencing Judge could have a magnanimous impact on your sentence.
If you are charged with a federal crime, it would be in your immediate best
interest to hire a criminal lawyer experienced in the federal criminal courts
to best help your case. Although
many criminal lawyers started their careers defending state cases and have
become experts in the same because of their success and experience, to defend
federal cases that same experience and exposure is strongly suggested. Be sure
the lawyer you are looking to hire has a track record handling federal criminal
cases and actually trying federal criminal cases to a jury. In federal court
it’s a different ball game from the initial arraignment to the receiving and
conducting of discovery, motion practice to trying a case before a federal jury.