Hi everyone this is a petition for Crystal Wemmering. I am writing this petition because I feel as if she was wrongly convicted. Her lawyer wrote a statement of what happened and this is what she said: Hi Everyone: I am the lawyer representing Crystal Wemmering in the Eastern District of North Carolina, Deborrah L. Newton, Newton Law. Just so everyone is clear on what happened to her, here is the short version: She was targeted by an unscrupulous law enforcement officer in Fayetteville, NC who had a grudge and wanted her help convicting her boyfriend of drug trafficking. He is the kind of bad seed who likes to funnel kids to the federal system, using partially fabricated statements. For refusing to cooperate, she was jailed, and referred to a lawyer who abused her verbally, and she entered into a guilty plea (which the jury later found her not guilty of). When she saw the statements against her prior to the original sentencing date, she fired the lawyer, and hired me to withdraw her plea in federal court; we succeeded; in response the Federal Prosecutor added charges to her indictment on the last day before the November 05 trial date, marijuana and money laundering; after a one month long jury trial January 06, the jury found her Not Guilty on the cocaine conspiracy, and guilty of the pot (8 pounds)/money laundering (related thereto, $5700); the jury was not allowed to state how much pot or the money value, and therefore sentencing was speculative and up to the discretion of the federal judge, James Fox. Between jury verdict and sentencing her codefendant who had absconded [the boyfriend target] was brought into custody and gave an affidavit supporting her innocence, and her case at trial. All such affidavits were presented at sentencing; nevertheless, the judge gave her the maximum sentence allowed under the money laundering statute (20 years), and then reduced it by mitigation factors (age, first offense, etc.) to serve 10 years - more than any of the case jumpers& who testified for their own cowardly selves to false stories at the agent's prompting to get a sentence reduction allowed in federal court for cooperation with the government. At the urging of the Government Prosecutor, He did this by factoring in all the cocaine for which the jury acquitted her, along with a drug for which she was not even charged. This is called acquitted conduct sentencing and after a brutal and lengthy appeals process, Our United States Supreme Court finally refused to hear the issue, despite their statements in USA v. Watts (Scalia: we do not believe that Congress intended nor would the Constitution allow [[such]...[as it renders the federal jury system a nullity].) All the case jumpers have now received their sentence reductions, and witnesses are coming out of the woodworks apparently willing to tell the truth about the corruption leading to her conviction in that federal courtroom. We anticipate refiling her Motion for New Trial based on post-trial newly discovered evidence, which includes these witnesses, among others. Crystal has been in custody since 28 March 2006. Although we were able to keep her out of jail until she had her baby, the baby and her brother have been without their mother ever since. Their grandmother, Crystal's mom Cheryl, has truly been a selfless angel, fiercely protecting these kids and keeping her mother in their memories by making the long trek to Florida for as many visits as she can afford, which are not many. Many people have collaborated to create this injustice; however, this is not unfortunately an unusual situation. Our federal sentencing rules allow it, and our Supreme Court is apparently willing to sit by and allow first time charged, innocent citizens to be sentenced for conduct for which their JURY ACQUITTED THEM. So if you can help, help Crystal's mom with the kids, and if any lawyers read this, how about some selfless work for justice and the Constitution Contact me at: NewtonAtLaw@aol.com, or 919-833-8776/office in Raleigh, NC. I can forward to anyone interested the Supreme Court Brief filed in a petition for certiorari decided 31 March 2008. Thanks in advance for your interest, willingness to even read this, and if it applies, your support. All my best, Deb We should all do are part and maybe this petition will help get her out sooner so she can be home with her babies! It only takes a minute to sign while Crystal is waiting ten years.

Sponsor

Links