Reagen E.Thomas

Federal Criminal Defense

Federal court is not state court with higher stakes. It is a different system, with its own rules of procedure and evidence, its own discovery regime, no automatic right to bond, and a sentencing process that turns on guidelines calculated long before the hearing. When you are hiring a lawyer for a federal case, ask how much time they have actually spent in federal court. It is an entirely different animal.

Her own federal work has included antitrust conspiracy, fraud, drug conspiracy and violent offenses in the Southern District of Texas. Most of what decides a federal case happens long before trial⁠—in discovery, in motions, and in a guideline calculation that almost nobody explains to the client.

State Criminal Defense

State court moves faster than people expect, and a charge can rest on far less than people assume, because probable cause is not proof. Settings come quickly, the State’s file arrives in pieces, and decisions that shape the whole case get made in the first few weeks⁠—usually before anyone has explained to the person charged what the paperwork against them actually is.