The Eastern District U.S. Attorney’s Office has discontinued a policy of notifying sentencing judges about proffer statements that defendants make in unsuccessful cooperation agreement talks.
In June, Eastern District Judge John Gleeson criticized the policy in an opinion explaining why he imposed an 8 ½-year prison term—a consequence for a “fairly run-of-the-mill heroin trafficker”—on defendant Luis Rivera, who Gleeson knew had admitted in proffer sessions to kidnapping, robbery and calling for a drug courier’s murder. The judge said he chose “not to consider in any way” Rivera’s proffer statements (NYLJ, July 9).
