{"id":89954,"date":"2020-11-16T11:20:10","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T16:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/?p=89954"},"modified":"2020-11-16T11:20:10","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T16:20:10","slug":"truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences","title":{"rendered":"Truthful Information for Reduced Sentences."},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether someone provides “truthful information” to qualify for a reduced sentence under the safety valve is not up to the government, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held on August 21, 2020. U.S. v. Lima-Rivero, 19-10759 (5th Cir. Aug. 21, 2020).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After pleading guilty to possession of methamphetamine, the defendant provided information to the government in an attempt for a lower sentence under the safety valve, which allows a court to go below a mandatory minimum sentence if a defendant meets several criteria.<\/p>\n

One of those criteria is that the defendant must provide “all information and evidence [he has] concerning the offense” to the government. In this case, the DEA agent testified that the defendant was “less than forthcoming” and didn’t qualify for the safety valve. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas denied the safety valve, reasoning that “I think it’s up to the government to determine if the defendant has complied” with the safety valve provision.<\/p>\n

But the judge was wrong: it’s not up to the government at all. Under 18 U.S.C. s. 3553(f)(5), it is the court’s responsibility to determine all the criteria for the safety valve. The Fifth Circuit said that the agents testimony wasn’t even based on fact but only “mere speculation,” and returned the case to the district court to determine for itself whether the safety valve applied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether someone provides “truthful information” to qualify for a reduced sentence under the safety valve is not up to the government, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held on August 21, 2020. U.S. v. Lima-Rivero, 19-10759 (5th Cir. Aug. 21, 2020).\u00a0 After pleading guilty to possession of methamphetamine, the defendant provided information…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[314],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nTruthful Information for Reduced Sentences. - Sentencing.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Truthful Information for Reduced Sentences. - Sentencing.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whether someone provides “truthful information” to qualify for a reduced sentence under the safety valve is not up to the government, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held on August 21, 2020. U.S. v. Lima-Rivero, 19-10759 (5th Cir. Aug. 21, 2020).\u00a0 After pleading guilty to possession of methamphetamine, the defendant provided information…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sentencing.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/attorneysample\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-16T16:20:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@attorneysample\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@attorneysample\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences\",\"name\":\"Truthful Information for Reduced Sentences. - Sentencing.net\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-16T16:20:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-16T16:20:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Truthful Information for Reduced Sentences.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/\",\"name\":\"Sentencing.net\",\"description\":\"News & Legal Updates By Attorney Brandon Sample\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Truthful Information for Reduced Sentences. - Sentencing.net","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Truthful Information for Reduced Sentences. - Sentencing.net","og_description":"Whether someone provides “truthful information” to qualify for a reduced sentence under the safety valve is not up to the government, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held on August 21, 2020. U.S. v. Lima-Rivero, 19-10759 (5th Cir. Aug. 21, 2020).\u00a0 After pleading guilty to possession of methamphetamine, the defendant provided information…","og_url":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences","og_site_name":"Sentencing.net","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/attorneysample","article_published_time":"2020-11-16T16:20:10+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@attorneysample","twitter_site":"@attorneysample","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences","url":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences","name":"Truthful Information for Reduced Sentences. - Sentencing.net","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-11-16T16:20:10+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-16T16:20:10+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/truthful-information-for-reduced-sentences#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Truthful Information for Reduced Sentences."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/","name":"Sentencing.net","description":"News & Legal Updates By Attorney Brandon Sample","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}