DC Federal Drug Defense Investigation Resources

The most important resources to have during a federal drug investigation in DC are going to be persistent and dependable investigators. Investigating a criminal case takes dedication, persistence, and a willingness to dig deep into the details of a case.

Federal drug cases can be complex as they usually involve a lot of people and a deep investigation. Because of the seriousness of these cases and the depth of the investigation, it is important for anyone facing charges to have a DC federal drug attorney who has resources like skilled investigators on call, who can help their client to build the best defense.

Necessary Resources

An investigator can do a lot of work online, such as researching people and looking at their social media. There are also databases that one can subscribe to in order to access information about people in order to locate witnesses to interview them.

There is a lot of work done digging into the government’s documents in a white-collar case. Often those documents are the client’s business records. Sometimes, there are other business records to research. The success of the defense’s criminal investigation depends on how much time is put into the research and investigation.

In white-collar federal cases, the mountain of documents the criminal lawyer receives is usually a key factor in losing documents or financial information during an investigation. The lawyer must thoroughly examine the documents to see what they reveal. Often, the story the government wants to tell through the documents can be rebutted using those same documents. Therefore, it is critical to the case to do extremely detailed work and look at the documents carefully.

Wiretaps

In other federal cases such as drug cases, recorded phone calls are often significant. They are usually being used to establish the existence of a conspiracy. Often when the lawyer digs into the phone calls and acquires a detailed knowledge of them, they find that the government is trying to use bits and pieces of different phone calls to tell a story that may not be valid.

When people are attempting to talk in code, the government often tries to decipher that code in a way that leads them to conclude that, for example, a large amount of drugs was involved, when in fact, no drugs were actually found. So it is impossible to say what quantity of drugs are involved.

In another example, a person is allegedly involved in a drug conspiracy and the government claims there are 40 phone calls that implicate that person. The only problem is that it was not that person’s voice on the call. The government got the wrong person, who happened to have the same name and frequented the same area where the drug conspiracy took place. That is why a solid defense requires a detailed and aggressive investigation of the government’s evidence utilizing various resources and investigators in DC.

Working With Witnesses

In federal drug cases, the government’s investigation may involve a cooperating witness who is given some sort of concession in exchange for cooperating with the government in their investigation. The criminal lawyer researches the witness, does a background investigation, and may find that the witness received a concession for cooperating. Sometimes, the witness has done so on multiple occasions, so they are essentially a professional witness. The criminal lawyer always looks for evidence that the witness lied, stretched the truth, or exaggerated certain claims.

The DC federal drug lawyer looks to see if the witness specifically has other criminal convictions and researches the facts of that particular case if they are involved. For example, fraud involving a prior act of lying could go against that witness at a trial. A federal defense attorney will be able to have full access to their various resources during an investigation in DC.

Role of an Attorney

When a lawyer is retained in a federal drug case, the first step they take is to conduct a preliminary interview of the client. The client may not know anything about the case. However, if they have information that could be of assistance or they know people that the lawyer may want to talk to, that could be helpful. The lawyer can review the government’s discovery with the investigator and the client. That often involves doing a recorded phone conversation. The lawyer, their investigator, or both, discuss a piece of evidence with the client.

The lawyer establishes an investigative strategy based on what is learned from the discovery, from the client, and from other people, records, or police reports.