United States v. Doe

The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to seal all documents related to, or disclosing the existence of, a USSG 5K1.1 motion to reduce his sentence by five levels based on his substantial assistance in the prosecution of other offenders involved in an international drug cartel. The panel held that the circumstances in this case required the district court to seal all documents revealing defendant's cooperation and to strike references to section 5K1.1 in the docket entry text. The panel next considered the report and recommendations from the Committee on Court Administration and Case Management of the Judicial Conference of the United States concerning the protection of ongoing government investigations, cooperators, and their families. The court held that a sealed supplement in all dockets would prevent the fact of cooperation from becoming immediately apparent and also deter the illicit use of court documents to harm cooperators. View "United States v. Doe" on Justia Law