Tag: Cameron Douglas

It's been a long 7 years for Cameron Douglas, son of actor Michael Douglas. This week the former heroin addict and meth seller was released from federal prison to a half-way house.

He looks in much better shape than he did at the time of his original arrest in 2009.

In 2012, Cameron was badly hurt in prison. In 2011 and 2012, I provided a lengthy recap of his legal troubles from court pleadings available at the time here and here. In 2010, I wrote about the sentencing pleadings and very candid family letters and provided a recap of events . Posts about his 2009 arrest and release on bail are here and here.

I took all of the information in the posts from publicly available pleadings, not just in his case, but in the cases of the Escalera brothers, against whom he testified. All of my posts on his case are accessible here.

Here's a letter Cameron wrote from prison in 2013. According to the Page 6 article, he's planning on writing a book of his experiences.

The Bureau of Prisons failed Douglas in my view. He more than did his time, under very harsh conditions. I wish him and his family well.

Cameron Douglas, the son of actor Michael Douglas, was badly beaten in prison, after a mobster put out a bounty on him for being a snitch. He suffered a broken femur, among other injuries, and to make matters worse, according to an unnamed source, prison doctors misdiagnosed his the break as a sprain. He then developed a blood clot, and is still on crutches, two months later.

Douglas is incarcerated at the FCi in Loretto, Pennsylvania, a low level security facility. [More...]

At Cameron Douglas' sentencing yesterday for using drugs while in prison, the judge hammered him with a 54 month sentence, consecutive to the 5 year sentence he is already serving for a drug conviction.

“I don’t believe that I have had another case ever...of a defendant who has so recklessly, and flagrantly, and wantonly and criminally acted in as destructive and manipulative a fashion,”

After reading all the recent pleadings on PACER, the judge's 54 month sentence is not all that surprising. It's not just about a judge sentencing a relapsing drug-addicted inmate to a lot of time. The full story, as told by the pleadings of both sides and two other involved defendants, is below. Read it and decide whether you think the sentence was appropriate: [More...]

Update: Cameron ended up at the prison camp at Lewisburg after all.

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When Cameron Douglas was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday, the Court agreed to recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that he serve his time at the satellite prison camp at Lewisburg.

A day later, his lawyers wrote the judge and said, oops, BOP doesn't think they can send him to a camp right away. They asked the judge to change his recommendation to the FCI at Ft. Dix so he can continue therapy with the doctor who has been treating his addiction while at MCC and because it's convenient for his family to visit.

The Judge said no dice. He said he gave both sides numerous opportunities to address the issue and the rules don't allow him to change his order, absent a clerical or mathematical error.

The Judgment has been publicly filed. In addition to the five years in prison, followed by five years on supervised release (similar to parole) and 450 hours of community service, Cameron was fined $25,000. and ordered to forfeit $300,0000. as proceeds of his crime. And the specific conditions of his supervised release are really onerous: [More...]

Cameron Douglas, son of actor Michael Douglas, was sentenced to five years for selling methamphetamine today.

He was facing a ten year mandatory minimum, but with a motion from the prosecutors to depart due to cooperation in the investigation or prosecution of others, the judge was able to go below it. (The motion is not public, nor are the details of his cooperation. All references to cooperation have been blacked out from the pleadings and letters, with the Court's approval.)

Once the Government files that motion, the court is free to depart as much or as little as it wants, and to take into consideration other factors, such as his addiction, his commitment to changing his life, the pleas of family members, etc.

Without that motion, absent a safety valve, the court's hands would have been tied. Ten years would have been the minimum, even, for example, had there been evidence Cameron Douglas marched into a burning building and rescued a dozen children from perishing.

Mandatory minimum sentencing laws need to be repealed. At a minimum, they should be amended so that judges are free to depart on their own motion, not just on the Government's motion or in the limited circumstances where the safety valve applies. Snitching should not be a prerequisite.

Cameron Douglas, the 31 year old son of Michael Douglas and his former wife, Diandra Douglas, will be sentenced on April 14 for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of crystal meth and more than 5 kilograms of cocaine. The charges carry a ten year mandatory minimum sentence, which the judge can depart from if the Government files a motion stating he has cooperated and provided information that is helpful to the investigation or prosecution of others. (The Judge can also depart or vary from the guidelines, but can't go under the mandatory minimum unless the Government makes the motion.)

Douglas' lawyers have filed a 119 page sentencing memorandum, which includes many letters from his immediate family, family friends and his own friends. There are a lot of redactions. Given the number of sealed documents on the docket, and his lawyers' request for either a sentence of time served or 42 months, it's apparent the Government will be filing a request for a reduction under the 10 year mandatory minimum for his cooperation.

That leaves the guidelines, which the Judge can depart or vary from for any number of reasons. Having read the 119 page memo, the original Complaint and the details of his bond revocation proceedings, here are some thoughts: [More...]

How did Cameron Douglas, charged with trafficking in multi-pound quantities of crystal meth, carrying penalties of 10 years to life, get released on a bond the conditions of which were home detention at his mother's New York apartment where he would be watched by a private security guard company?

It may not matter now. He's been transferred to the Metropolitan Correction Center for violating the terms of his bond.

His girlfriend, Kelly Sott, brought Cameron an electric toothbrush filled with heroin to his mother's apartment. Cameron had requested the toothbrush.

Sott is now charged with multiple offenses and has been ordered detained without bond. She has a court-appointed lawyer. The judge also ordered medical treatment for her as her lawyer advised she's a heroin user. The complaint against Sott is here (pdf). [More...]

Actor Michael Douglas' son, Cameron Douglas, arrested July 28 at a New York hotel for a methamphetamine offense, could be facing some serious time.

The federal complaint against him was released yesterday. I'm not linking to it because it still says "sealed" on the court's docket. (You can find it on the internet.) It contains two charges, both of which carry ten year mandatory minimum sentences if convicted.

The first count charges him with conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of ICE since 2006. The second count charges the July, 2009 transaction and involved 215 grams of ICE. Any mixture containing over 50 grams of ICE carries a 10 year mandatory minimum sentence. The maximum penalty is life. [More..]