“Just because someone pleads guilty to a crime, doesn’t always mean they’re guilty,” said prison consultant Larry Levine.” Every year, defendants are charged, sentenced, and go to Federal Prison based on lies and the trumped up confessions of informants looking for breaks on their own crime. These informants, or “cheese eaters” as known in prison lingo, are guilty as sin themselves, and are routinely coached by federal law enforcement looking to boost conviction rates on what to say when testifying in court. “Many of the people that come to me for pre-custody prison consulting were charged with crimes they didn’t even do” said Levine, who served a ten year sentence in federal custody and now runs American Prison Consultants, a firm that teaches people what to expect in prison as well as assisting defendants with sentence reductions.
Many times, the court testimony or statement of informants under the hearsay standard of evidence are used to boost a defendant’s time in custody at sentencing. While it’s illegal for a government Agent or Prosecutor to require an informant to lie under oath, nothing prevents the informant from being encouraged to slant his testimony so that he or she leaves out relevant issues helpful to defendants.
Several Federal Courts have sided with defendants against the Government. In Thompson v. Calderon, 109 F.3d 1358 (9th Cir. 1996) the Court held that a “Prosecutor may not obtain criminal criminal conviction through use of false evidence” and further ruled in Hayes v. Woodford 301 F.3rd 1054 (9th Cir. 2002) that a “Prosecutor has a constitutional duty to correct evidence he knows is false.”
“If we can catch the informant in a lie, or usually a series, it can call into question and taint everything the informant says whether under oath or not,” said Lawrence Olmstead, a 20 year veteran Investigator who now runs the investigation agency Hollywood Private Investigations. “Most informants are so caught up in their own lies looking to please the feds, that they often forget what they say, and if we can interview them prior to trial, chances are, the statement they gave to us, and the statement they gave to the Government will be contradictory,” said Olmstead.
Levine who has extensive knowledge of Federal Bureau of Prisons policy, Federal Criminal Law and Post Conviction Relief, and Olmstead a licensed California Investigator have teamed up to provide the total solution for criminal defense lawyers looking for logistical support in defending their clients.
For more information contact American Prison Consultants at 888.558.2151 or Hollywood Private Investigations at 661.492.4910
