CASE
EXPERIENCE

Federal Conspiracies

Milwaukee Conspiracy Defenses

Conspiracy Charges

Eighty years ago a distinguished federal judge wrote that conspiracy is “the darling in the prosecutor's nursery." Twenty-five years later Justice Jackson echoed this view. Conspiracy was the prosecutor's darling eighty years ago and they have been lovers ever since.

Conspiracies are the easiest cases for a prosecutor to prove and the hardest for a lawyer to defend. When many defendants are charged with a conspiracy, the acts of one to further the conspiracy are the acts of all and the statements of one are treated as though they were said by all.

The defense of conspiracy prosecutions is an endless attempt by defense counsel to block the acts and admissions of other defendants. The law of conspiracy is largely the law of evidence. It is subtle and complex. The complexity arises from the interplay and collision of the rules of evidence and a defendant's constitutional right to confront his accusers.