Winter Newsletter 2026

PROTECTING COOPERATORS

After a long plight of attempting to have the Eastern District of Pennsylvania join other districts’ practices for protecting cooperators (including both the Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania), Ms. Laguzzi was able to convince the US DOJ to reformulate their procedures for guilty pleas.

Standing Order

On September 29th and October 22, 2025, Chief Judge Beetlestone issued a standing order stating, in part:

“The government in each case will file a guilty plea agreement and a sentencing memorandum which sets forth all pertinent information about the conviction and the sentencing proceeding, while effectively masking whether a defendant is cooperating.

In every criminal case, the Court will accept for filing under seal a supplement to every guilty plea agreement, and a supplement to every government sentencing memorandum, that addresses whether or not a defendant is providing substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of others.

Further…it is the policy of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania that at every guilty plea hearing and sentencing hearing any discussion concerning the supplements and whether or not the defendant is cooperating shall occur outside the hearing of non-parties in the case, and the transcript of that portion of the hearing shall be maintained under seal. All other portions of the hearing shall remain open to the public unless otherwise ordered by the presiding judge.”

Safeguarding all Defendants

Ms. Laguzzi, along with the Federal Community Defender for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, has also been pushing for the defense attorneys to also be mandated to file sealed supplements in all cases, regardless of whether the client has cooperated or not to preserve the integrity of the system.  (Otherwise, it can be easily determined when a defendant has cooperated- if a defense attorney does not file a sealed supplement, the inference is there is no cooperation, but if they do, then cooperation can be deduced.)  By always filing a sealed supplement, then a review of the docket cannot reveal who has, or has not, cooperated. 

This new procedure is as important for cooperators as non-cooperators.  Several of my clients in the past have been threatened for cooperating when, in fact, they had not.  Sometimes this can happen when an attorney asks for the sentencing memorandum to be filed under seal for other reasons, i.e. medical issues, or other sensitive areas, which have nothing to do with cooperation.

Feel free to contact us with any questions: Laguzzi Law, P.C.; P.O. Box 30095; Philadelphia, PA 19103. 215-625-4547.