{"id":1546,"date":"2015-09-23T14:19:43","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T19:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/?p=1546"},"modified":"2015-09-23T14:19:43","modified_gmt":"2015-09-23T19:19:43","slug":"doug-williams-sentenced-to-two-years-in-prison-for-teaching-polygraph-countermeasures-to-undercover-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/23\/doug-williams-sentenced-to-two-years-in-prison-for-teaching-polygraph-countermeasures-to-undercover-agents\/","title":{"rendered":"Doug Williams Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Teaching Polygraph Countermeasures to Undercover Agents"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The following is a special report by attorney David C. Graham, who was present at Doug Williams’ sentencing hearing at the federal court house in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Tuesday, 22 September 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n

I traveled to Oklahoma City to attend and report on the sentencing of Doug Williams.\u00a0 I\u00a0attended his trial earlier this year, in May.\u00a0 Based on what I observed at his trial, I did not think the sentencing would\u00a0go well for Williams.\u00a0 As a practicing attorney with extensive criminal law experience, I know that pleading guilty as charged–which is what Williams did–is like going down a dark one-way, dead-end street; it’s not going to end well.<\/p>\n

The weather in Oklahoma City was the same as it had been in May, but the atmosphere was completely different.<\/p>\n

Before the sentencing hearing began, I spoke briefly\u00a0to Williams, his wife, and two step-children.\u00a0 Williams appeared prepared for whatever sentence he might receive.<\/p>\n

In the courtroom were\u00a0the government’s attorneys, Brian Kidd, and Heidi Gesch.\u00a0 They were joined at counsel table by FBI agent Doug Robbins.\u00a0\u00a0At\u00a0the defense table were Williams and his attorneys, father and son, Stephen Buzin, and Chase O’Brien.<\/p>\n

Also in the courtroom was a female government employee, affiliated with the prosecution, who was at the trial as well.\u00a0 On the other side of the courtroom were Williams’ wife, two stepchildren,\u00a0and three friends of the family.<\/p>\n

Several security guards were in the back of the courtroom.<\/p>\n

The judge, Vicki Miles-LaGrange, appeared and called the case.<\/p>\n

First, the judge sought to determine Williams’\u00a0guidelines score.\u00a0 The guidelines score determines the presumptive sentence length\u00a0and\u00a0disposition (prison or probation).<\/p>\n

The first thing defense attorney Buzin said was that he had put all his arguments in writing and that he did not care to make any further argument.\u00a0 He looked bothered and annoyed.\u00a0 Perhaps he had a bus to catch.\u00a0 His son also looked like he’d rather be elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The main area of contention was whether Williams should receive a 2-point reduction for “acceptance of responsibility.”\u00a0 Defense counsel\u00a0argued that Williams did accept responsibility for his conduct and therefore, deserved the reduction.\u00a0 The prosecutor\u00a0argued that Williams did not accept\u00a0responsibility for his conduct and\u00a0therefore,\u00a0did not deserve the reduction.\u00a0 The prosecutor also argued that even if Williams did\u00a0accept responsibility, he waited too long to do so to be eligible for\u00a0sentencing reduction.\u00a0 The judge agreed with the prosecution.<\/p>\n

Alas, the\u00a0scoring reduction for acceptance of responsibility was the\u00a0only\u00a0conceivable reason for Williams to plead guilty and he did not get the benefit of it.<\/p>\n

Counsel then made their sentencing arguments.\u00a0 The defense argued for probation.\u00a0\u00a0The prosecutor argued for 24 to 30 months, no probation.\u00a0 Williams\u00a0personally addressed the court.\u00a0\u00a0He said he was “embarrassed and humiliated.”\u00a0 He also said he\u00a0was very remorseful for his actions.<\/p>\n

The judge sentenced Williams to 24 months and\u00a0denied probation.\u00a0 At the defendant’s request, she recommended he be allowed to serve his time at FCI\u00a0El Reno, the federal prison in El Reno, Oklahoma, so that he may be close to his family.\u00a0 She allowed Williams to remain free on his personal recognizance bond, pending his report date.\u00a0 Said report date and report location are to be determined\u00a0later; however, the judge\u00a0said Williams must report no later than noon, on October 30, 2015.<\/p>\n

Upon release from prison, Williams will be on supervised release for 3 years.<\/p>\n

David C. Graham is an attorney at law practicing in Overland Park, Kansas. He may be reached at 1-913-829-5445 or by e-mail to dcg2111 [at] yahoo <\/em>[dot] com.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is a special report by attorney David C. Graham, who was present at Doug Williams’ sentencing hearing at the federal court house in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Tuesday, 22 September 2015. I traveled to Oklahoma City to attend and report on the sentencing of Doug Williams.\u00a0 I\u00a0attended his trial earlier this year, in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-polygraph","7":"anons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1546"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1548,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions\/1548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}