Criminal Law

MastersLaw LLC has successfully defended clients on appeal in several criminal matters, obtaining acquittal or vacatur of a plea agreement.

• Secured the acquittal on appeal on six counts of bank fraud on behalf of the client.
  The court clarified an important principle: bank fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1344(2) requires a misrepresentation made to the bank itself to obtain its property, not merely a misrepresentation that results in the issuance of a valid check later presented to a bank for payment. The decision gives real world impact to a hypothetical the Supreme Court gave in Loughrin v. United States, 573 U.S. 351 (2014) about what conduct would not constitute bank fraud and places important limits on the scope of the bank fraud statute.
  United States v. Robinson, 161 F.4th 1069 (7th Cir. 2025).
• Obtained the reversal of client’s sentence in a case of first impression in which the court established evidentiary standards the government must meet to establish drug purity for the duration of a conspiracy. The court agreed that one week of samples from a thirteen-month conspiracy was not a reliable sample from which to extrapolate the purity of methamphetamine distributed during a 13-month conspiracy in the absence of any evidence from which to conclude that the purity remained consistent. United States v. Yates, 98 F.4th 826 (7th Cir. 2024).

• In a case of first impression, obtained vacatur of defendant’s plea despite the plea agreement’s appeal waiver.  Applying the categorical approach, the court held that prior Indiana convictions for controlled substance and methamphetamine offenses could not be used to enhance a sentence. Consequently, the court found that the defendant’s agreement to a sentence of 312 to 324 months based upon the mistaken belief that prior offenses would subject him to a mandatory life sentence was not knowingly and intelligently entered.  United States v. De La Torre et. al, 940 F. 3d 938 (7th Cir. 2019).

• Obtained acquittal on appeal on an attempted bank robbery conviction on behalf of client based upon arguments that there was insufficient evidence to convict.  United States v. Jett, 908 F. 3d 252 (7th Cir. 2018).