I have to be in federal court today at 11:30, and my client (we shall call him JM) is going to get creamed. He plead guilty to sneaking a pakistani guy into the country. And, you know how we feel about those brown skinned people these days. (Just in case anyone forgot, all of the 911 terrorists were in this country legally. Not a single one got here by hiding in the back of an SUV under a pile of dirty clothes.) Anyway, JM had his 20 year old son with him when he brought this guy across the border, and his son was just sentenced to 12 months in jail. My client will probably get more time because the U.S. Attorney, in his snivelling sentencing memo, said that JM did not accept responsiblity for his actions.

What???

Clearly, I am a very simple minded individual. I think that if you plead guilty and say I done it and this is how, then you’ve obviously accepted responsibility. It’s a truism, isn’t it? If you admit guilt then you have accepted responsiblity. Don’t they meant the same thing? Just with one being a longer phrase with more words?

In this case JM plead guilty and he told the government, in excruciating detail, exactly how he got the guy across the border, what he did, and how much he got paid, and yet the government says this is not acceptance of responsibility. Apparently, the AUSA didn’t like the fact that JM said he didn’t know if the pakistani guy had a passport. Didn’t know, didn’t ask – probably didn’t care. He was paid to get the guy across the border and that’s it.

Is there some sort of script or magic words that the client needs to say to express his guilt – other than I’m guilty, I did it and here’s how? Obviously, if he had said he didn’t do anything and he didn’t know there was a guy hiding under some clothes in the back of his truck, well, then I’d have to agree that he was fibbing and not accepting responsibility. But. . . again, maybe I’m just stupid.

So, my client is probably going to get creamed at sentencing, and there’s probably not much I can do to stop it.