United States v. Richardson

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

After being convicted of a variety of financial crimes and sentenced to 140 months in prison, Ronald Richardson assisted the government in an unrelated prosecution. The government offered to submit a motion to the sentencing judge under Fed.R.Crim.P. 35(b), asking the judge to reduce the length of the sentence by 15 percent on the basis of Richardson’s assistance, but only if Richardson agreed to withdraw his appeal from his conviction, which was pending. He refused, and, still within a year of his having been sentenced, filed his own Rule 35(b) motion, complaining that…