Steve Palmer [00:00:00]:

Steve Palmer here, Lawyer Talk, Q and A style. Check us out LawyerTalkPodcast.com where we take questions that you send us@LawyerTalkPodcast.com as well as in the socials. I got a question here. This is from Bethany. Bethany. It says, bethany, I received a target letter from the United States Attorney's office. What does that mean? What do I do? All right, this is a good question because I've been doing federal criminal defense for most of my career and target letters come up pretty regularly. A target letter is a.

Steve Palmer [00:00:30]:

Well, first of all, let's talk about why there's a policy in the United States Attorney's office. And I emphasize policy because it is not a law. The U.S. attorney has a policy to send out target letters when somebody is the subject of a grand jury investigation. And the local district attorney, the U.S. attorney in the local district believes that they have a case and they're about to indict somebody. And the target letter is designed to give the person notice that they're about to be charged with a crime. And it actually says in writing, you should hire a lawyer and have your lawyer contact our office or contact me, or if you can't afford a lawyer, let us know and the court will maybe appoint you a lawyer.

Steve Palmer [00:01:13]:

That often is the case. So a target letter is a formal notification that you're probably getting indicted in federal court. And sometimes people see this coming, sometimes they don't see it coming. Sometimes it comes on tax evasion cases, sometimes it's drug cases, sometimes it's, I recently had a client who had a target letter on a potential gun case based on a regulatory problem with purchases and selling of firearms. So a target letter is not to be ignored. Now here's the problem. Well, maybe that is the problem because I've had clients call me that said, look, I got this target letter a long time ago or some federal investigator left a card in my door and I have a civil attorney, meaning an attorney that deals with their business transactionally stuff said, well, look, if they didn't, you know, they'll find you. If they need you, you don't have to call them back.

Steve Palmer [00:02:03]:

Don't do that. Don't do that. If you've got a target letter or if the feds want to talk to you, find. Now, I'm not saying you should call them back and talk to them because you shouldn't talk to the authorities, whether they're federal, state, local, it doesn't matter unless you first have good, solid advice from a lawyer on what to do. But What I am saying is this. Don't ignore when the federal government comes in knocking, because they don't go away. They don't go away. So I had somebody came to me, this is a few years back, but their civil attorney, their transactional attorney said, just don't worry about that.

Steve Palmer [00:02:34]:

Well, guess what? The person got indicted, didn't even know there was an indictment, then gets picked up and we have to go to court. And we dealt with the case, obviously, but it didn't have to go that way. It could have been a lot smoother process. So it. So the feds don't go away. Don't ignore a target letter. So back to Bethany's question. You've got a target letter.

Steve Palmer [00:02:50]:

It says, get a lawyer. You should get a lawyer. And if you can't afford one, notify the court and say, look, I've received a target letter. I need to get a lawyer appointed. What do I do? You can call the clerk's office, call somebody over. Just dial the district court's number, and they'll get you in the right place, I promise. Look, if it's Columbus or if you're in Ohio or actually anywhere federally and you want us to help you out, please give us a call or check us out at Palmer Legal Defense or find another lawyer, get a good referral, and make sure you protect yourself, because the target letter is serious business. If you've got a question, you got a topic you want us to cover here on Lawyer Talk? Send it to lawyertalkpodcast.com, leave a comment in the socials, and we'll get to it right here, off the record, on the air, till next time.