Federal Criminal Defense in Oklahoma: A Reference Overview

Federal criminal cases in Oklahoma are heard in the United States District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Oklahoma. This overview collects the jurisdictional statute, the district structure, and the charging statutes most commonly at issue.

Jurisdiction of the district courts

The district courts have original and exclusive jurisdiction over offenses against the laws of the United States. The controlling provision is 18 U.S.C. § 3231:

The district courts of the United States shall have original jurisdiction, exclusive of the courts of the States, of all offenses against the laws of the United States. Nothing in this title

Oklahoma’s three districts

Congress divided Oklahoma into three judicial districts by statute:

Oklahoma is divided into three judicial districts to be known as the Northern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Oklahoma.

The Northern District comprises eleven counties, including Tulsa; the Eastern District comprises twenty-six counties in eastern Oklahoma, including Muskogee; and the Western District comprises forty counties, including Oklahoma County. Each district holds court at the locations listed in 28 U.S.C. § 116.

Statutes most often charged

Conspiracy charges rest on 18 U.S.C. § 371:

If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. If, however, the offense

Drug trafficking charges rest on 21 U.S.C. § 841(a):

Except as authorized by this subchapter, it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally— (1) to manufacture , distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to manufacture , distribute, or dispense, a controlled substance ; or (2) to create, distribute , or dispense, or possess with intent to distribute or dispense, a counterfeit substance .

Firearms charges frequently include 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A), which adds a mandatory consecutive term when a firearm is used or carried during and in relation to a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime:

(c) (1) (A) Except to the extent that a greater minimum sentence is otherwise provided by this subsection or by any other provision of law, any person who, during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime (including a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime that provides for an enhanced punishment if committed by the use of a deadly or dangerous weapon or device) for which the person may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, uses or carries a firearm, or who, in furtherance of any such crime, possesses a firearm, shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such crime of violence or drug trafficking crime — (i) be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 5 years