McNabb in the News (5-7-06)

Senior Principal Douglas McNabb has been quoted in a Las Vegas Review-Journal article about possible sentences for Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey.

In the federal prison system, white-collar criminals with no prior record are typically sent to minimum-security facilities known as prison camps.

"That's what's commonly referred to as Club Fed," said Douglas McNabb, ... who specializes in federal criminal cases. "It's like a college dormitory without bars."

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Web site, the camps have a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio and limited or no perimeter fencing. Inmates can walk away -- at the risk of facing an escape charge.

"You definitely want to be able to get into a camp," McNabb said.

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McNabb said Herrera may be precluded from placement in a prison camp because his record includes a misdemeanor conviction for battery. "The likelihood of being designated to a camp because of the conviction for a crime of violence -- battery -- is very slight," the attorney said.

Herrera pleaded no contest to the battery charge in August 2004, while awaiting trial in the corruption case. The charge stemmed from a scuffle with another man at a construction site, where Herrera was working as a supervisor.

McNabb said Herrera probably will be sent to a low-security facility, such as the one adjacent to the Taft camp.

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McNabb said Kincaid-Chauncey and Herrera face sentences of at least 33 months under the federal guidelines, which are advisory.

Wright said he plans to ask Hicks for leniency based on his client's lifetime of good deeds.

"If it's at all likely that someone would get less than whatever the guideline calculation is, I think she's a good candidate for it," the lawyer said.

Under the guidelines, sentencing ranges are calculated based on the seriousness of the offense and the defendant's criminal history. In the corruption case, Hicks must determine, based on the preponderance of the evidence, the dollar value of the bribes the defendants accepted.

According to a plea agreement reached between Galardi and prosecutors, Galardi paid between $200,000 and $400,000 in bribes to public officials involved in the Las Vegas case. That amount results in a sentencing range of 51 to 63 months, McNabb said.

The attorney said Hicks could choose to increase the sentences if he finds that the defendants' conduct "was part of a systematic or pervasive corruption of a governmental function, process or office that may cause loss of public confidence in the government."

He said the judge also could increase the sentences if he finds that Herrera and Kincaid-Chauncey, who professed their innocence from the witness stand, committed perjury.^[1]

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[1] Carri Geer Thevenot, Pair Might Get Sent to Stay at “Club Fed,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 7, 2006.