How can a plea agreement affect sentencing?

The federal sentencing guidelines reward defendants who plead guilty for “accepting responsibility” and reducing their offense level. Pursuant to plea agreements, federal prosecutors can stipulate to the offense level or factors used in determining the offense level. Federal prosecutors are also permitted to award defendants with substantial reductions in their sentences when they “cooperate” and incriminate other people.

There are many ways in which a federal prosecutor with a plea agreement can attempt to provide a defendant with incentives to plead guilty. However, they rarely enter into a plea agreement that stipulates what the defendant’s sentence is going to be. Federal court plea agreements that stipulate a specific sentence are often looked upon by judges with some degree of disfavor. In any event, federal judges always retain the authority to reject plea agreements.

In federal drug cases, the offense level is primarily determined by drug amounts. As defendants in a federal drug case decide to cooperate, it is common for these drug amounts to rise based on the information that cooperating co-defendants provide about past drug deals. The defendants are incentivized to cooperate early because they generally are provided an agreement that states that any information they give will not be used in determining their drug amounts for sentencing purposes. In addition, federal prosecutors usually will seek more leniency for those codefendants who cooperate early.