By Sara Kropf As 2022 winds down, we want to thank all our loyal readers (hi mom!) for taking the time to visit Grand Jury Target and read our posts. We had over 50,000 views this year. While this number is a rounding error for Google or YouTube's stats, we’re proud...
By Sara Kropf Recently, the Department of Justice asked a federal court to hold former President Donald Trump in contempt for failing to comply fully with a grand jury subpoena demanding that he return all classified documents he took when he left office. The...
By Sara Kropf Jury instructions are a key part of any criminal trial. They matter at trial itself since the jury will rely on them to evaluate whether your client is guilty or not. They matter just as much on appeal; problems arising from jury instructions are some of...
By Sara Kropf When I represent an individual client, a joint defense agreement with my client's employer can be extremely helpful. The company can share information and documents to help me advise my client about agreeing to a voluntary interview or prepare for grand...
By Sara Kropf The Department of Justice increasingly makes aggressive requests for reciprocal discovery from defendants in white-collar criminal cases. Most defense lawyers think only of Rule 16’s provisions for reciprocal discovery. But Rule 26.2 provides a second,...
By Sara Kropf The FBI executed a search warrant at former President Donald Trump’s Florida home a few days ago. The investigation appears focused on whether Mr. Trump took—and then did not return—classified or other top secret documents from the White House. He has...
By Sara Kropf and Margaret Cassidy This is Part 2 of an article that I wrote with my colleague Margaret Cassidy for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers publication, The Champion. Here is a link to Part I. If you would like to read the entire article,...
This is Part 1 of an article that I wrote with my colleague Margaret Cassidy for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers publication, The Champion. In this part, we provide an overview of the mandatory self-reporting obligations in the Federal...
By Sara Kropf One thing you quickly learn as defense counsel is that the government has considerably more power than you do. In pre-indictment discussions, if I push back too hard on the government, the prosecutor could decide to add more charges to the indictment or...
By Sara Kropf Just this week, a federal judge sentenced a former University of Arkansas engineering professor to a year and a day in prison. He had pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to the FBI. I’ve written before about how a false statements...