I am currently working with several clients who are all in different stages of their journey through the criminal justice system. Some of my clients have recently been arrested, some are preparing for their pre-sentencing interview and some are awaiting sentencing. The process is incredibly stressful and is a very traumatic experience. I was there myself. The FBI came to my office in April of 2012 to inform me that I was going to be charged with securities fraud and 2 related felonies. The sentencing guidelines in my case were 78-97 months. My case was a conspiracy and involved some cooperation so to get to my sentencing took several years. The stress I endured during those years was like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. The worry of if I would go to prison, who would take care of my family, what would prison be like, and how would I be able to make a living when this was all over. I did not have a consultant to guide me through the process. The work sentencing mitigation work that I put in was from the information I obtained from FBI agents, former prosecutors, and former defendants. These were all people who had an experience of attending sentencing hearings and seeing what factors lead a judge to depart from the guidelines and give a defendant a lower sentence. There are several things a defendant can do to put himself in a position to receive a lower sentence.
Personal Narrative
This is a document created by the defendant with the help of our team. The people who will be making the decision on the sentencing of the defendant are the prosecutor, probation, and the judge. These people know very little about the defendant. They only know him as a person who has made bad decisions and committed a crime. The narrative will cover the person’s upbringing, education, career decisions, identification with the defendant’s victims, and action items that they will work on to begin to make amends and recreate their lives. This document is the anchor of a mitigation program.
Character Reference Letters
In my case I submitted 46 letters, this was a major mistake. In addition to this, I solicited letters from everyone I had ever known, especially high-profile people such as politicians, business leaders, and law enforcement. This seemed to generate the opposite reaction instead of what I had hoped for. We have spent hundreds of hours and reviewed sentencing hearings to understand what types of letters impacted judges and influenced them to depart downward from the sentencing guidelines.
Pre Sentence Interview.
This is the most important interview of your life. The impression you make and how prepared you are will influence what the probation officer will detail in his report and recommendation to the judge. In addition during this interview, you will be able to disclose personal information that may help you qualify for a reduced sentence.
Personal Sentence Mitigation Program
When we work with a defendant who is facing a sentencing hearing we work with them to prepare for life after sentencing and recreate their lives. The programs are not cookie cutter. There is no one-size-fits-all. We work with a client and combine their interests, strengths, and circumstances to create a program of post-conviction action to assist the decision-maker in knowing our client better and seeing them for the good they have accomplished apart from one poor decision. We have seen in some cases these strategies lead to lower sentences.
If you are in any of these places in your journey and are interested in discussing sentence mitigation call me today
Coleman Flaherty
781-690-5077
