Legal Question in Criminal Law in Wisconsin

Sentence Modification Hearings for Cooperation with Authorities in Drug Investigations

You need to discuss this with an experienced criminal lawyer as soon as possible. In the federal system, the government routinely moves for sentence reduction due to "substantial assistance" under rule 35, and sets up a court hearing. Nearly all federal drug defendants eventually end up cooperating and going back to court in this fashion for sentence reduction, often getting sentences reduced to "time served." However, the earliest ones to cooperate generally get the best deals. Those who cooperate much later after reconsideration while in prison often have little left to offer authorities which is not already known, hence, cannot get much of a sentence reduction. The risk of retribution from the persons against whom a cooperator cooperates are greatly exagerated; since nearly everyone eventually ends up cooperating and is therefore in no position to criticize the other cooperators. In rare cases of real danger, however, the federal witness protection program is available for cooperators who face real assassination risk, whereby entirely new identities, new social security numbers and geographic relocation following release from prison may be offered. My comments here are not intended as legal advice unless you subsequently retain me.