Federal Criminal Defense in the Southern District of California: Caseload, Sentencing and What Gets Prosecuted

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California covers San Diego and Imperial Counties, with courthouses in downtown San Diego and in El Centro (casd.uscourts.gov; 28 U.S.C. § 84(d)). Vikas Bajaj was admitted to practice in the Southern District of California in 2001.

The courthouses

  • James M. Carter and Judith N. Keep United States Courthouse, 333 West Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101.
  • Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse, 221 West Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101.
  • El Centro United States Courthouse, 2003 W. Adams Ave., El Centro, CA 92243.

For addresses, hours and the day-to-day guide to appearing in this district, see the firm’s Southern District of California courthouse page.

Criminal caseload (U.S. Courts, year ending March 31, 2025)

Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics for the 12 months ending March 31, 2025 report the following for this district:

  • Criminal defendants filed: 3,648 (compared with 3,363 in the prior year) (Table D, Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics, March 31, 2025).
  • Criminal cases filed: 3,081 (compared with 2,736 in the prior year) (Table D Cases, March 31, 2025).
  • Defendants terminated: 3,728; defendants pending: 2,832 (Table D).
  • Median time from commencement to termination for criminal defendants disposed of: 4.6 months (based on 3,727 defendants disposed of) (Table D-6, March 31, 2025).
  • Trial rate: 25 jury trials and 6 bench trials among those dispositions (0.8% tried; 90.8% resolved by guilty plea in the Table D-6 disposition counts) (Table D-6).

Felony filings by offense type

Table D-3A (criminal felony defendants commenced, excluding transfers, year ending March 31, 2025) shows this district’s felony offense mix:

  • Immigration offenses (improper reentry and other immigration): 2,137 felony defendants (58.9% of the district’s 3,626 felony defendants commenced) (Table D-3A, year ending March 31, 2025).
  • Drug offenses (marijuana and all other drugs): 1,141 felony defendants (31.5% of the district’s 3,626 felony defendants commenced) (Table D-3A, year ending March 31, 2025).
  • Fraud: 130 felony defendants (3.6% of the district’s 3,626 felony defendants commenced) (Table D-3A, year ending March 31, 2025).
  • Firearms and explosives: 57 felony defendants (1.6% of the district’s 3,626 felony defendants commenced) (Table D-3A, year ending March 31, 2025).

Sentencing in this district (U.S. Sentencing Commission, FY 2024)

In fiscal year 2024 (October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024), the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported 2,634 sentenced individuals in this district (USSC Statistical Information Packet, FY 2024; index at the 2024 Federal Sentencing Statistics page).

  • Drug Trafficking: 1,103 (41.9%) of sentenced individuals in the district (USSC FY 2024, Table 1).
  • Immigration: 1,081 (41.0%) of sentenced individuals in the district (USSC FY 2024, Table 1).
  • Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement: 136 (5.2%) of sentenced individuals in the district (USSC FY 2024, Table 1).
  • Money Laundering: 119 (4.5%) of sentenced individuals in the district (USSC FY 2024, Table 1).
  • Firearms: 44 (1.7%) of sentenced individuals in the district (USSC FY 2024, Table 1).

Of those sentenced individuals, 98.6% resolved by guilty plea and 1.4% by trial (USSC FY 2024, Table 2).

Among sentenced individuals, the mean sentence length was 22 months and the median was 13 months (national mean 52 months; national median 24 months) (USSC FY 2024, Table 7).

88.6% received a prison-only sentence; combining prison-only and prison-plus-alternatives, 94.8% received some term of imprisonment (USSC FY 2024, Table 5).

What the U.S. Attorney’s Office emphasizes

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California describes the district as among the busiest in the country because of border-related crime along the roughly 140-mile border with Mexico, including the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Its Criminal Division pages describe reactive border dockets—illegal entry and reentry, drug importation and smuggling, and alien smuggling—alongside proactive work in organized crime, narcotics and money laundering, violent and gang crime, human trafficking, firearms, fraud, and cybercrime (USAO-SDCA Criminal Division; USAO-SDCA press release on border-related filings).

Federal defense in this district

Vikas Bajaj handles complex federal defense matters in this district.

How a federal criminal case usually moves

  • Initial appearance. A person arrested on a federal charge must be taken before a magistrate judge without unnecessary delay (Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 5).
  • Detention or release. The court decides whether a person is released before trial, and on what conditions, under the Bail Reform Act (18 U.S.C. § 3142).
  • Speedy Trial Act deadlines. An indictment or information generally must be filed within 30 days of arrest, and trial generally must begin within 70 days of the indictment or first appearance, subject to excludable delay (18 U.S.C. § 3161).

Related pages

Talk to the office

The Law Office of Vikas Bajaj, APC is at The Bajaj Building, 2150 First Avenue, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92101. Vikas Bajaj has nearly 25 years of experience and personally handles each client’s case. Call (619) 525-7005 or use the contact form.

Attorney advertising. This page is general information about federal court caseloads, sentencing statistics and procedure, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Court addresses, hours and phone numbers come from the court websites linked on this page; confirm them with the court before you go, because courts change them. Caseload and sentencing figures are from the U.S. Courts and U.S. Sentencing Commission sources cited on this page for the periods stated; they describe the district’s docket as a whole, not any particular case. Every case is different, and no particular result can be promised.

What happens next

  1. Call or send the form. Reach the office at (619) 525-7005 or use the contact form.
  2. A confidential consultation with Vikas. You speak directly with attorney Vikas Bajaj about your situation.
  3. A plan for your case. You leave with a clear plan for the next steps.