Extortion is slightly different from bribery. It has the more negative commendation, because it is the threat by one person to another to damage the character, person, or property of another person and hold that threat over their head with the promise to make that threat go away if money or something of value is exchanged. It is like reversed bribery in which an individual is asking for money or something of value to prevent him or her from acting in a way that could be detrimental to another person.
If you are facing extortion charges, it is vital to contact a Virginia federal extortion lawyer to begin building a defense right away.
Common Scenarios of Charges
Extortion goes around a lot of different ways. Generally, the most common scenario of a federal extortion charge is someone involved in a custody dispute and might have something to hang over their spouse’s head, like they know that their spouse did not file accurate tax returns, has a drug problem, or has abused them in the past but has not reported it as of now. In some circumstances, the offended spouse threatens to use that information during the course of their marriage as leverage in a potential divorce or custody proceeding. That is the textbook definition of extortion. It is trying to bend the will of another person by using threats to expose them for something that they might have done recently or in the distant past.
In some circumstances, the offended spouse threatens to use that information during the course of their marriage as leverage in a potential divorce or custody proceeding. That is the textbook definition of extortion. It is trying to bend the will of another person by using threats to expose them for something that they might have done recently or in the distant past.
A person convicted of extortion in Virginia is a Class five felony, which means that if a person is convicted they will face a possible penalty of one to 10 years in prison.
How an Attorney Can Help
Bribery and extortion charges often contain a lot of gray areas. It is uncommon for a Virginia federal extortion lawyer to present a case in front of a court where the evidence is something of a slam dunk in a bribery extortion case.
The reason is because people who commit these crimes are usually extraordinarily careful about the words they choose when preparing or attempting to execute these crimes. Everybody knows that bribery and extortion are illegal, and everybody should know exactly what kind of conduct constitutes those crimes.
Therefore, people try hard to dance around these specific, magic words that might lead to an automatic conviction. As a result of that inherent ingenuity universally present in a bribery or extortion case, having a good federal extortion lawyer in Virginia to turn the juries certainty into reasonable doubt is critical in the person’s case.
