Rule 35 Correcting or Reducing a SentenceFederal Rules of Form

Instructions and help about Rule 35 Correcting Or Reducing A SentenceFederal Rules Of

So the next question is, "What does Rule 35 have to do with eliminating mandatory minimums in federal criminal cases?" Rule 35 is a provision of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure that provides for a sentence reduction in exchange for the "substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person". Rule 35 is one of two motions that is contemplated by 18 U.S.C. Section 3553(e), which allows a Federal Judge to reduce a federal sentence without regard to any otherwise applicable mandatory minimum. So, what this means, is that if a defendant in a federal case is charged under a statute that requires the Judge, and doesn't give the Judge discretion, to sentence to a mandatory minimum, ten years, for example, if a person qualifies under Rule 35 and Section 3553(e), the Judge can go back to the original sentence guideline range for that defendant, which may be well below that ten-year mandatory minimum, and start at that point, and then take additional levels off. The