Meet Brandon Sample

On this page

This page is the short way to meet Brandon Sample: the federal work he handles, the courts where he is admitted, and how a consultation is set. It is general information about that practice. It is not a prediction about any one case.

Who Brandon Sample is

Brandon Sample is a federal criminal defense lawyer at Criminal Center, the firm he founded. He is an author and a criminal justice reform advocate, and he has years of hands-on experience in federal court.

He is admitted to practice law only in Vermont. His practice is limited to federal courts and federal agencies, so he does not take state criminal cases. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, twelve federal courts of appeals, and twenty federal district courts. He has also handled federal cases in courts across the country. The only state court on that list is the Supreme Court of Vermont. Each court is named on his biography.

Criminal Center keeps the number of matters small so we can stay close to each one. The office is at 1701 Pennsylvania Ave NW # 200, Washington, DC 20006. Federal work runs nationwide from that office.

Who a federal case reaches

The person under investigation, charged, or already sentenced is the one the case is about. A spouse, parent, or other loved one can be the person who reaches out. We can talk with family members. We need the client's permission before we share details about the case.

That covers someone federal agents want to interview, someone with a charge in United States district court, someone waiting to be sentenced, someone who wants to appeal, and someone in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It does not cover a state prosecution or a state pardon. Clemency on this site means the President's power over federal offenses (U.S. Const. art. II, § 2).

Stages of a federal case

He handles a federal criminal case from the investigation through trial, sentencing, appeal, and imprisonment. A statute that allows a step is not a promise that the step fits one record.

Talk with a lawyer before you talk with federal agents. In federal prison, do not discuss the facts on a prison phone or on TRULINCS email. The Bureau of Prisons may monitor inmate calls (28 C.F.R. § 540.102).

In district court he handles the charge, pretrial practice, and trial (18 U.S.C. § 3231). At sentencing the judge calculates the Guidelines range (Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38 (2007)), then weighs 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) (United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005)). The Guidelines are advisory.

A defendant's notice of appeal is due within 14 days after the later of the judgment and the government's notice of appeal (Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1)(A)). The federal appeal guide covers what follows.

After the judgment, 28 U.S.C. § 2255 lets the sentencing court vacate or correct a sentence imposed in violation of the Constitution or federal law, including when counsel's work fell short of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). The motion is ordinarily due within one year after the conviction is final (§ 2255(f)). A § 2241 habeas petition, filed in the district of confinement, is the usual way to challenge how the Bureau is carrying out the sentence.

If the Commission lowers a range and makes the change retroactive, the judge may reduce a sentence based on the old range (18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2)). Compassionate release under § 3582(c)(1)(A) asks that court to reduce a term for extraordinary and compelling reasons. The person asks the warden first, then may file after the Bureau finishes its process or 30 days after the warden receives the request, whichever is earlier. The judge decides.

A pardon forgives a federal crime and does not erase the conviction. A commutation shortens a sentence being served. Petitions go to the Pardon Attorney (28 C.F.R. § 1.1). The difference is on the clemency page. He also handles a change in supervised-release conditions, or ending the term early, under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e). A judge may end it after one year when conduct and the interest of justice support that step.

Treaty transfer, under 18 U.S.C. § 4100, asks that a citizen or national of another country serve the federal sentence there when a treaty allows it. Civil matters he handles include prisoner civil rights, wrongful death, inmate abuse and neglect, inmate accident compensation, Federal Tort Claims Act claims, and cases under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the Freedom of Information Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Papers to gather

Bring what you have. A complete file is not required. The papers that usually help are:

The court and the case number
The indictment or information, if charges have been filed
The judgment, the written order that states the sentence
The presentence report, if you are allowed to see it
The plea agreement, if the case was resolved by a plea
For a person in federal custody, the Bureau of Prisons register number
Recent Bureau of Prisons medical records, if health is part of the problem

The Bureau's inmate locator at bop.gov/inmateloc lists people in federal custody. It does not list people in a state prison or a local jail. Further answers about the practice are on the questions page.

Education, admissions, and books

He earned a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Vermont Law School, and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies, summa cum laude, from Adams State University.

He is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Federal Bar Association, and the Vermont Trial Lawyers Association. Membership in those groups is not a court admission. Court admissions are only the courts on the biography.

He wrote The Habeas Citebook: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, first published in 2010. A second edition, co-authored with Alissa Hull, Esq., was published in 2016 by Prison Legal News. He is a co-author, with David L. Mathis, of Pardons and Commutations of Sentences: The Complete Guidebook to Applying for Clemency, published by Prisology Press in 2019. Details are on the books page.

He has written articles for Prison Legal News and the Huffington Post, and a column for Criminal Legal News, on federal habeas law, the Supreme Court, and the Bureau of Prisons. Longer explainers are on the articles page. Short notes on new decisions and policy are on the news page.

Prisology and sentencing reform

In 2013 he formed Prisology, a national tax-exempt nonprofit that works on criminal justice reform. On June 10, 2014, he testified before the U.S. Sentencing Commission for Prisology. He asked the Commission to apply the "drugs minus two" change to people already in prison. That change is Amendment 782, which lowered guideline ranges for many drug offenses. The Commission made it retroactive in Amendment 788, effective November 1, 2014. A judge may apply a retroactive amendment only within 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) and the Commission's policy statement. The Guidelines manual is published at ussc.gov/guidelines.

Press that names him

News outlets have named him in federal matters. In February 2020 he filed a compassionate-release motion for Bernard Madoff. The motion said Madoff had end-stage kidney disease. Judge Denny Chin denied the motion on June 4, 2020. Madoff died in federal prison on April 14, 2021.

In 2021 he represented Ross Ulbricht in a lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The court dismissed the case in December 2021 after both sides asked it to. President Trump granted Ulbricht a full pardon on January 21, 2025. Coverage of that pardon quotes Brandon Sample as Ulbricht's attorney. The pardon was the President's act. The lawsuit was dismissed before that date.

He was part of the pro bono team that asked President Trump to pardon Joseph Maldonado-Passage, known as Joe Exotic. No pardon was granted. He argued the direct appeal in the Tenth Circuit. On July 14, 2021, the court upheld the conviction, vacated the sentence, and ordered a new sentencing. Other lawyers handled the later proceedings.

Outcomes vary. A past result does not predict or guarantee the outcome of any other case.

Headlines and links are on the in the news page.

How a consultation works

A consultation is a one-hour meeting with Brandon Sample about the federal case or the federal prison problem. The meeting is paid. Send the short form, and we will contact you to set a time. You do not need the legal vocabulary. Tell us what happened in your own words. Book a consultation and tell us what happened.

Book a consultation

Contact does not create an attorney-client relationship.