Big wins
D.A.S. has played a significant role in serving unjustly treated defendants, including individuals, criminal inmates, homeless citizens, businessmen, and many others who were targeted, neglected and mistreated by overzealous regulators, bureaucrats and misbehaving prosecutors. Our attorneys, staff and volunteers have won multiple high profile jury verdict (acquittals), federal criminal case dismissals, state and federal civil case dismissals, and other major victories.
Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge Occupation
Pre-Trial and Trial Defense
In 2016, the United States government charged more than 20 protestors with conspiracy against officers the United States under 18 U.S.C. § 372. A protest, led by Ammon Bundy, involved occupying the Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge headquarters in Burns, Oregon to protest the unjust imprisonment of local ranchers and federal government overreach on the public land. The case received widespread national and global media coverage.
The Defendant Aid Society (D.A.S.) had not yet been organized, but individuals who would form a core part of our initial team played a significant role in obtaining the definitive jury verdict victory and acquittals for all defendants on the overcharged conspiracy. D.A.S. founder Jewel Franklin’s husband Rick worked as support for Defendant Ammon Bundy’s first attorneys Mike Arnold and Lisa Casey; and also as support for Ryan Bundy’s standby counsel Lisa Ludwig. Rick later organized a new legal team for Ammon, bringing in Morgan Philpot as lead counsel, and Marcus Mumford to run the trial. Rick spent months working directly with Ammon and Ryan (over the phone and in the local jail where they were being held). Together with Mumford and Philpot, they put forth a rather unorthodox trial defense strategy based on adverse possession and were successful at demonstrating the government’s political overreach.
This trial team, working together with Ryan Bundy (primarily representing himself) and a remarkable group of other very exceptional and dedicated Oregon attorneys representing Ryan Bundy, Shawna Cox, David Fry, Ken Medenbach, Neil Wampler, and Jeff Banta secured the acquittal of all defendants on the overcharged conspiracy.
Daily Grind
While D.A.S. is proud of the Malhuer case, and other notable court victories and high profile public success we’ve achieved for our clients; the daily work of our staff and volunteers has created value in innumerable ways that typically escape much outside notice or fanfare. Whether its a small matter involving only a few weeks or months, or a years long court battle for severe injustice, our keen awareness is that ALL time matters for every person’s life. A few of our “run of the mill” victories are described below.
Dale Lounsbury (Lounsbury v. Williams)
28 U.S.C. § 2241 (Pro Se Habeas) Wrongful Incarceration
[First Step Act – Earned Time Credits]
Dale was being required to serve more time in prison than his sentence required. Dale was a first time, non-violent federal prison inmate serving a sentence for a white collar offense after he had already made full restitution. Dale was a model inmate with no discipline. Upon arriving in federal prison (FCI Englewood) he began doing all that was required of him to successfully participate in the First Step Act’s new “earned-time” credit program. Local prison officials refused to grant or apply Dale’s credits and were requiring Dale to serve a longer prison sentence than was lawful.
D.A.S. helped Dale complete and file a “pro se“ petition in the local federal court. Within weeks the local prison officials changed their course, awarded and applied Dale’s FSA credits and sent Dale home as the law requires.
Timely Release. Dale’s circumstance is, unfortunately, not as rare as it should be. Inmates in local, state, and federal prisons are often required to serve more time than their judge intended, or than the law requires. Holding someone in prison longer than their lawful sentence is a serious human rights abuse, and a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment guarantees. In 2022, First Step Act earned-time credits are a serious area of concern. Friends and family of inmates who need FSA help can contact D.A.S. for support.
Dale’s situation opened the door for others, and at least five other inmates at FCI Englewood have filed pro se habeas claims to secure their FSA credits and to have their sentences lawfully addressed and corrected where necessary.
D.A.S. Has also helped many inmates with other unjust incarceration issues. Recently, D.A.S. Helped a local jail inmate in the Weber County Correctional Facility who was incarcerated past the term of his sentence.
Staff at the institution refused to help him. He couldn’t use the institutions system for requesting help because the system no longer recognized him as an inmate. Other staff didn’t believe him. By the time he contacted D.A.S. he had been held two months too long. We helped him file a motion with his sentencing judge seeking an order of release. Working with a D.A.S. volunteer, it took about four days to solve the problem. Two months of his life had been unjustly taken, but D.A.S. helped him regain his liberty.
Charles Parke (United States v. Parke)
CARES Act Home Confinement
Charles Parke was a non-violent drug offender sentenced to 262 months (21+ years) under federal drug laws that have now changed. If sentenced today he would likely receive less than half that time. By 2021 he had just over six years remaining.
Charles was incarcerated at FCI Terminal Island when the COVID-19 outbreak began sweeping federal prisons. FCI Terminal Island was among the worst, a dozen inmates have died from COVID-19. In March 2020, Congress included in the CARES Act authorization for the federal Bureau of Prisons to start transferring low-risk, non-violent inmates who were medically vulnerable, to home confinement.
Charles was just that kind of inmate. He had multiple health conditions that put him at risk of severe COVID-19 illness, including a double heart valve transplant. However, staff at FCI Terminal Island did not process him for CARES Act home confinement consideration, and the local warden had denied his request – three times.
D.A.S. was able to assist Charles through the Administrative Remedy Process and successfully obtain home confinement (although it did take two trips to the Regional Office when the warden again neglected to consider him). DAS subsequently assisted Charles with a Compassionate Release petition and that was granted.
COVID-19 and CARES Act Home Confinement. Federal prisons vary by institution, regarding how seriously staff take the issue of CARES Act home confinement transfer. For the foreseeable future, CARES Act home confinement is still a policy directive of the President, the U.S. Attorney General, and the BOP.
However, like the situation with Charles Parke, some wardens seem content to ignore inmate requests for CARES Act transfer, providing less than full individualized consider – required by federal law.
D.A.S. has been able to help inmates at several federal institutions successfully obtain CARES Act transfer, even after prior denials. While no court has authority to force the BOP to grant home confinement, federal law does require individualized, good-faith consideration based upon specific statutory factors and current BOP policy. If you know an inmate who needs help with CARES Act consideration for home confinement D.A.S. is willing to help.
Albert Gaitan (United States v. Gaitan)
Compassionate Release (Pro Se Motion)
18 U.S.C. § 3582
Albert was another FCI Terminal Island inmate neglected during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was a non-violent, first time offender. When Albert was sentence, it was well-known that he had several heart conditions. He contracted COVID-19 in prison. For over two months he received almost no medical attention and despite efforts from family and outside doctors, his situation remained grim.
Through an inmate volunteer, Albert contacted D.A.S. We assisted Albert with a pro se motion under § 3582. Our staff provided researched, collected records, and assisted him in drafting and filing a pro se motion. Within a week of receiving the motion the judge granted early compassionate release.
Compassionate Release. Compassionate release and Reduction in Sentence motions are difficult to win; but inmates with compelling reasons can succeed at having their time reduced with a well-prepared, well-written motion. D.A.S. is willing to review inmates with sincere interest in pursuing this relief. In many situations we’ve been able to help inmates in various circumstances successfully win these § 3582 motions. These motions are not light duty legal work. A genuine effort requires significant research and documentation preparation, significant legal investigation (including researching the approach taken by the sentencing judge in other § 3582 decisions) and substantial time to prepare and file all of the necessary documents. Inmates who try to take the short or easy path on these filings are routinely dismissed or denied without much consideration at all. D.A.S. can help inmates create and file the documents themselves (pro se), D.A.S. can evaluate having one of our attorneys represent the inmate, and D.A.S. can help an inmate’s current attorney. All of these are options. If you have a loved one who needs help, get in touch and we will see what options are available.
OTHER EXAMPLES OF D.A.S. SUCCESS
- Freeing an Innocent Man. DAS staff and volunteers recently helped a man who had been imprisoned for nearly a year, based on allegations of a crime for which he was clearly not guilty. In this unusual situation his only family on the outside was an elderly parent who couldn’t figure out how to approve his phone calls. The local police had charged him and arrested him. He had been in jail for nearly 12 months waiting for a visit from a public defender. He had no idea what charges he was facing, no idea when his next court date was, and no voice on the outside. The overworked public defender simply had not been able to get to his case, and he languished in jail with no end in sight. A fellow inmate reached out to DAS to request help on behalf of this inmate. DAS contacted the public defender and offered to help. We helped the inmate obtain discovery, including copies of the incident police report. In reading over the report one of our volunteers noticed that an officer on the scene reported that he saw evidence that showed this man was not guilty of the crimes charged. This report was buried in a stack of documents without notice, and no one had mentioned it. We contacted the public defender, but he was slow to respond. So, DAS drafted a motion to dismiss the case and sent the draft to the public defender. Surprised and grateful, the public defender filed the motion. In a surprising turn of events, the prosecutor did not object and the man was released from incarceration approximately four days later.
- Reconnecting Families. DAS has also been instrumental in providing other forms of support. For example, we’ve provided inmates and families personal help all across the nation. Through hundreds of phone calls, emails, and letters, DAS has helped provide basic human kindness and assistance. For example, one inmate lost contact with his family, and especially a grandson he was very close to, after a prison transfer resulted in him losing all contact information. He had been without contact for almost a year until DAS helped him re-establish contact. Here is what he wrote to DAS: “Thank you!!!! I cannot put in words how much this means to me. My Grandson and I are very close and I miss him very much. God Bless you!!! If the day comes you are evaluating the value of your service, you can put this on the side of extremely valuable.”
- Finding Hope and Justice. DAS currently provides support to clients in more than 14 different federal prison facilities, county jails and halfway houses (RRCs). We are currently involved in several major efforts to help wrongfully convicted inmates, and other inmates who have been severely underserved by legal counsel. For example, DAS is currently assisting a federal inmate with 28 U.S.C. § 2255 petition who was convicted of a single $900 drug transaction, but because of patently false advice from his attorney (who spent less than a total of 1 hour working with the client during his whole criminal case) he was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison due to harsh, misapplied mandatory sentencing guidelines intended to target career criminals, but often sweep too broadly. If you know an inmate who needs assistance with a § 2255 filing, contact us.
D.A.S. will consider the full spectrum of circumstances where people need help defending or advocating for their rights, yet the current focus is on serving incarcerated individual and their families. Whether a case involves sensitive family law issues, business and regulatory matters, criminal charges or incarceration – in a courtroom an individual stands alone, with his or her rights and liberty is on the line. A non-profit society determined to aid people in this circumstance is why the Defendant Aid Society exists. There are many charities the feed the hungry, many that clothe the naked, and many that care for the sick and afflicted. But, we are also commanded to visit, care for, and help liberate the captive.
Inmate Feedback to D.A.S.
“Thank you !!!! I cannot put in words how much this means to me. My Grandson and I are very close and I misshim very much. God Bless you!!! If the day comes you are evaluating the value of your service, you can put this on the side of extremely valuable.”
John J.; Terminal Island, CA
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“Thank you for the inspiration!”
Gary A.; Terminal Island. CA (In response to a DAS Liberator email)
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“Muchas gracias! I just want to thank you.” Jose S.: Mendota, CA
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“I will spread the word about your wonderful program. Also, I really respect the fact that you guys are reallytrying to help people. That is the right thing to do in life and I pray that God will bestow you and your family with blessings. So keep up the great work!”
Aaron C.; Victorville, CA
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“I am impressed so far. I have a great feeling on you guys short and long term.” Robert H.; Terminal Island, CA
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“Thank you so much for helping me!” Issa A.; Mendota CA
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“I will spread the word. I’m very interested.” Jose C.; Bastrop, TX
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“I want to thank you in advance for your continual help with me. I am very blessed to have you in my corner.”
Tim W.; Florence, CO