Marijuana Grow Defendant Receives Up to approximate 75% Reduction Federal Sentencing Guideline Range

Approximately three years ago, Mr. Lowe was hired to represent a local businessman that graduated from SMU with a degree in Economics.  At that time, Mr. Lowe’s client was the target of a Federal IRS/HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas) investigation in an eventual six defendant Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana in the Dallas area.  Mr. Lowe’s client participated in this hydroponic marijuana grow operation.  The client was accused of conspiring to cultivate at total approximate weight of 400 kilograms of highly potent marijuana cultivated in 11 separate grow houses Dallas and Richardson.  Mr. Lowe’s client was facing a range of punishment from 10 years to life in the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for his role this Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance in Federal Court.

Over the last 3 years, Mr. Lowe’s work resulted in the case being dropped to  a Money Laundering Conspiracy and Aiding and Abetting, 18 U.S.C. section 1956(h) which capped his client’s sentence to 20 years.  More importantly, the plea agreement Mr. Lowe negotiated was a Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1)(C) plea agreement wherein his client could not be sentenced to more than 24 months in the BOP.  The applicable guideline range was a level 27 which carries a recommend non-mandatory imprisonment range of 70-87 months in the BOP.  Mr. Lowe was able to persuade Federal District Judge David Godbey to accept the agreement and sentence his client to only 24 months and impose no fine.  That is, Mr. Lowe’s client received up to a 74% reduction in his sentence from the recommended guideline range.